Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae)
Praying mantids (class Insecta, order Mantodea) are a group of predatory insects comprising approximately 2500 described species, that occur across all continents except Antarctica, with the greatest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Mantids predominantly prey on other invertebr...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:9748410 2023-05-15T13:35:02+02:00 Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) Kolnegari, Mahmood Fasano, Antonio Zareie, Khalil Panter, Connor T. 2022-12-13 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748410/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748410/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Ecol Evol Nature Notes Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 2022-12-18T02:13:44Z Praying mantids (class Insecta, order Mantodea) are a group of predatory insects comprising approximately 2500 described species, that occur across all continents except Antarctica, with the greatest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Mantids predominantly prey on other invertebrates but are known to feed on small vertebrates. During April and May 2021, we observed mantid feeding events in Manujan County, Kerman Province in southern Iran. Two distinct feeding events were observed where female European Mantids (Mantis religiosa) preyed on Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) and Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) nestlings. In addition, we collated information from online searches of mantids feeding on nestlings elsewhere in the world, revealing two more observations. In Taiwan, a Giant Asian Mantid (Hierodula patellifera) was recorded preying on a nestling Warbling White‐eye (Zosterops japonicus) and in Brazil, a mantid (Stagmatoptera sp.) was recorded feeding on a nestling White‐throated Seedeater (Sporophila albogularis). To date, the only existing scientific evidence of praying mantids feeding on passerine nestlings was recorded in 1922. We propose two potential explanations for the observed trophic interactions between mantids and passerine nestlings: (1) during egg production female mantids, especially those in poor physical condition, may opportunistically feed on nestlings in order to increase fecundity via nutrient gain and (2) mantids may initially be attracted toward the nest by parasitic or coprophagous insects, as a result of poor nest sanitation, and subsequently prey on nestlings after detecting movements. Our unusual observations represent the first records of praying mantids feeding on nestling passerines in nearly 100 years. Text Antarc* Antarctica PubMed Central (PMC) Ecology and Evolution 12 12 |
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Nature Notes Kolnegari, Mahmood Fasano, Antonio Zareie, Khalil Panter, Connor T. Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
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Nature Notes |
description |
Praying mantids (class Insecta, order Mantodea) are a group of predatory insects comprising approximately 2500 described species, that occur across all continents except Antarctica, with the greatest species diversity in tropical and subtropical regions. Mantids predominantly prey on other invertebrates but are known to feed on small vertebrates. During April and May 2021, we observed mantid feeding events in Manujan County, Kerman Province in southern Iran. Two distinct feeding events were observed where female European Mantids (Mantis religiosa) preyed on Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus) and Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) nestlings. In addition, we collated information from online searches of mantids feeding on nestlings elsewhere in the world, revealing two more observations. In Taiwan, a Giant Asian Mantid (Hierodula patellifera) was recorded preying on a nestling Warbling White‐eye (Zosterops japonicus) and in Brazil, a mantid (Stagmatoptera sp.) was recorded feeding on a nestling White‐throated Seedeater (Sporophila albogularis). To date, the only existing scientific evidence of praying mantids feeding on passerine nestlings was recorded in 1922. We propose two potential explanations for the observed trophic interactions between mantids and passerine nestlings: (1) during egg production female mantids, especially those in poor physical condition, may opportunistically feed on nestlings in order to increase fecundity via nutrient gain and (2) mantids may initially be attracted toward the nest by parasitic or coprophagous insects, as a result of poor nest sanitation, and subsequently prey on nestlings after detecting movements. Our unusual observations represent the first records of praying mantids feeding on nestling passerines in nearly 100 years. |
format |
Text |
author |
Kolnegari, Mahmood Fasano, Antonio Zareie, Khalil Panter, Connor T. |
author_facet |
Kolnegari, Mahmood Fasano, Antonio Zareie, Khalil Panter, Connor T. |
author_sort |
Kolnegari, Mahmood |
title |
Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
title_short |
Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
title_full |
Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
title_fullStr |
Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (Mantodea: Mantidae) |
title_sort |
opportunistic depredation of songbird nestlings by female praying mantids (mantodea: mantidae) |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748410/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 |
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Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
Ecol Evol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748410/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 |
op_rights |
© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9643 |
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Ecology and Evolution |
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12 |
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12 |
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