Empusa pennata
| Empusa pennata | ||||||||||||
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Empusa pennata , larva |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
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| ( Thunberg , 1815) |
The crested insect ( Empusa pennata ) is a fishing insect from the family Empusidae .
features
The genus Empusa is particularly clearly characterized by its helmet. While the larvae of Empusa pennata are brown in color, the adult animals have a greenish color, especially on the wings. The male becomes about six, the female about seven centimeters long. The sex can be easily determined from the third larval stage by the number of abdominal segments. While the male has six, one counts five for the female. In addition, the adult males have long, double-combed antennae and longer wings than the females. The males also have a leaner build.
male
larva
distribution
The distribution area of this species extends from southern Europe (Italy, southern France and Spain) over the Canary Islands to North Africa and in the eastern Mediterranean area to the Middle East and Anatolia. There it lives in dry and warm areas, mainly dry grassland and grasslands, where it hunts on bushes and grasses.
Way of life
Empusa pennata is a less aggressive species that specializes in hunting mostly small flying insects. Only live feed is accepted that is consumed immediately after being caught. In the experiment, two-winged bugs , bugs and butterflies were accepted as prey. Of the beetles on offer, soft beetles were accepted, but all leaf beetle species were rejected. Presumably the kind, like all terrors, is generalist. In contrast to most fishing horrors, the nymphs hatch in summer, feed in autumn and irregularly in winter (climate-related diapause ) and complete their development in spring.
The sexes are found through pheromones released by the female .
swell
- Roberto Battiston, Luca Picciau, Paolo Fontana, Judith Marshall: Mantids of the Euro-Mediterranean Area. WBA Handbooks 2nd World Biodiversity Association, Verona 2010.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Omar Abu-Ahmad Dannoun & Katbeh-Bader (2007): Mantodea of Jordan. Zootaxa 1617: 43-56.
- ↑ Battal Çıplak & Ali Demirsoy (1997): Mantodea (Insecta) Fauna of Malatya Vicinity (Turkey) and Some Remarks on the mantises of Anatolia. Journal of Orthoptera Research No. 6: 105-111.
- ↑ Marigt Reitze & Wolfgang Nentwig (1991): Comparative investigations into the feeding ecology of six Mantodea species. Oecologia 86: 568-574.
- ↑ César Gemeno, Jordi Claramunt, Josep Dasca (2005): Nocturnal Calling Behavior in Mantids. Journal of Insect Behavior Volume 18, Issue 3: 389-403.
Web links
- Empusa pennata at Fauna Europaea