Dead leaf (fishing insect)

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Dead leaf
Dead leaf (Deroplatys lobata), female

Dead leaf ( Deroplatys lobata ), female

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Mantis (Mantodea)
Family : Mantidae
Subfamily : Deroplatyinae
Genre : Deroplatys
Type : Dead leaf
Scientific name
Deroplatys lobata
( Guérin-Méneville , 1838)

The dead leaf ( Deroplatys lobata ), also known as the dead leaf mantis , is a fishing insect from the family of the Mantidae . The distinctive species gets its common name from its appearance, which looks very similar to a withered leaf ( mimetic ).

features

male

The females of the dead leaf reach a body length of around 65 to 70 millimeters, the males remain significantly smaller at 45 millimeters. The basic color of the species ranges from light to dark brown to completely black. The dead leaf, like the walking violin or the ghost mantis, imitates a withered leaf. This property also gives the dead leaf its name. Noticeable are the pronounced pronotum and the lower wings of the female, which outstrip the abdomen laterally and also in the back when resting. The underside of the second pair of wings is striped black, while the first pair of wings has ocher and black spots on the underside. This is also the case with the inside of the tentacles. The insides of the tentacles and the undersides of both pairs of wings are directed against the attacker in the threatening position. In the male, on the other hand, the wing covers protrude beyond the lower wings. The wings of the male are also designed to be less contrasting and, moreover, as is the case with most male mantids, fully developed, which makes them airworthy in contrast to the females.

Up to the third nymph stage, the two sexes cannot be distinguished by the number of visible segments on the underside of the abdomen, as is the case with most other species of catching terror, since both sexes show eight segments. It is only from the fourth stage that both the external shape and the number of visible segments develop apart. There are then six segments in the females and eight segments in the males.

Occurrence

The dead leaf is represented in Thailand, Java and Borneo. There it prefers to stay in tropical forests near the ground on tree trunks. Because of its camouflage, the fishing insect is difficult to spot for both predators and prey.

Way of life

A female dead leaf guards its discarded ootheca while it is consuming a prey.

Like many mantids, the dead leaf is largely motionless, which is beneficial for camouflage. The dead leaf waits camouflaged in its habitat for prey, which can be grabbed with the tentacles as soon as they come within range. To do this, the dead leaf also stalks its prey. Ground-dwelling animals, which the dead leaf can overwhelm, come into question as prey, depending on the habitat of the mantid. While the aggressive females often defend themselves through their defensive stance, the males and also the nymphs fall to the ground when disturbed and remain motionless for several minutes. They bend their legs to give the impression of a leaf.

Reproduction

The females reach sexual maturity four weeks after the adult moult, in males this occurs already two weeks after the last moult. In this species of mantis, too, the males shed fewer moults (seven), while the females with nine moults need a greater number up to the adult stage . This also prevents inbreeding here . Mating takes 10 to 20 hours. Even after mating, the male tends to stay on the female's back for up to two days without being eaten by the female. However, this can occur after this time. After mating, the female lays up to six ooths with a gray or red-brown color and cylindrical and slightly curved shape, each containing about 100 eggs, in a period of about 25 days . A discarded ootheca is then guarded by the female for several weeks, a characteristic that is rare among fishing fright. The larvae hatch from the discarded ootheca after six to seven weeks.

Keeping in the terrarium

The dead leaf is just like the other species of the genus, due to its characteristic appearance, a popular terrarium animal . However, keeping it is recommended for advanced keepers, as the species needs a comparatively high level of humidity and temperature.

Systematics

The dead leaf was first described in 1838 by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville under the name Choeradodis lobata and is the type species of the genus Deroplatys . The term dead leaf is occasionally used for other species of the genus, such as Deroplatys desiccata , Deroplatys truncata or Deroplatys trigonodera and the reticulated winged fly .

gallery

  • Frontal view of a female

  • Top view of a female

  • Lateral view of a female

  • Underside of a female

  • Detail of a female

  • Upper side of the thorax of a female

  • Females in defensive stance

  • Prepared female in the Munich State Zoological Collection

  • Head part of a male

  • Two nymphs in the first larval stage

  • Nymph in the second stage

  • Third instar nymph in size comparison

  • Male (left) and female nymph (right) in the fourth instar

  • Top view of the head of a male (left) and a female nymph (right) in the fourth stage in comparison.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Deroplatys lobata , Mantid Kingdom, accessed March 18, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d Deroplatys lobata - Totes Blatt , Mantiden und Mehr, Lexikon, accessed on March 18, 2019

Web links

Commons : Dead Leaf ( Deroplatys lobata )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files