Iris Oratoria

''Iris oratoria'', known by the common name Mediterranean mantis (or less frequently iris mantis), due to humans first studying it in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, is a species of praying mantis. Its range is expanding in the Middle East, Western Asia and the United States.Sexual cannibalism, mate choice, and sperm competition in praying mantids

Range

Albania, Bulgaria, Brač Island, Korčula Island, France (Including Corsica), Greece (Including Ionian Islands, Crete, Cyclades Islands), Italy (Including Sardinia, Sicily), North Macedonia, Portugal, Spain (Including Balearic Islands), Yugoslavia (Including Serbia, Kosovo, Voivodina, Montenegro), North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, North Chad), Cyprus, West, Central and South Asia ( Asian Turkey, India, Title: Updated Checklist of India Mantodea (Insecta) Authors: Mukherjee et al. Date:1995 Israel, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Turkestan), Non-native to the Southwestern United States (Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas.).

Appearance

''I. oratoria'' is very pale when young but matures to grass green, and grows to about 6.5 cm long. The species may be distinguished from ''Mantis religiosa'' and other mantids with which it shares a range and general size and shape by the red-orange spot on the ventral side of the fourth (second to last) abdominal segment; also, its cerci are shorter than those of ''M. religiosa''.D. Oliveira, Mantid Genera Key
The species is distinctive in having two large startling violet-brown eyespots on its hind wings which are revealed when its wings are unfolded. The adult is more slender than ''Tenodera sinensis'', more like ''Mantis religiosa'' in shape. Females have wings shorter than the abdomen, very similar to some '' Stagmomantis'' species, but easily distinguished if the hindwings are visible.

Reproduction

Two novel ''I. oratoria'' survival strategies may have contributed to the expansion of this species beyond its original range, and its success in areas formerly occupied by other mantids such as '' Stagmomantis carolina.'' Firstly, this species is capable of parthenogenic reproduction when males are scarce. Secondly, additional '' I. oratoria'' nymphs may emerge from their oothecae in the second season after the egg case is produced, i.e., when their siblings are already grown and are producing their own offspring."Range Expansion of an Introduced Mantid ''Iris oratoria'' and Niche Overlap with a Native Mantid ''Stagmomantis limbata'' (Mantodea: Mantidae)" by Michael R. Maxwell and Ofer Eitan, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 91, Number 4, July 1998.

Hatching

At a field site in Davis, CA, S. limbata hatched earlier in the season than ''Iris oratoria'', and ''Iris oratoria'' tended to persist longer into the year.

Behaviour

The Mediterranean mantis is known for two distinctive behaviours, apart from the ambush hunting common to other mantids: cannibalism and deimatic or threat displays. The sexual cannibalism of mantids known in popular culture occurs in roughly one quarter of all intersexual encounters of ''I. oratoria.''

When the mantis is under attack, it sets in motion a complex series of actions which combine to form a startling deimatic display. The mantis turns to face the aggressor, rears up by arching its back, curls its abdomen upwards (dorsiflexion), raises and waves its forelimbs, raises its wings to displays the large brightly coloured eyespots on the hindwings, and stridulates by scraping the edge of its hindwings against its tegmina, the leathery front wings.Prete, 1999. p 185.

Diet

Compared to '' Stagmomantis limbata'', ''Iris oratoria'' eats a lesser portion of Orthopteran insects and does not eat as much long bodied insects. S. limbata adults have longer pronota and forelegs than I. oratoria adults. This difference in body size might be an important cause of the dietary differences between the species. Furthermore, the earlier hatch date for ''S. limbata'' also might reduce the overlap in ''Iris oratoria'' and '' Stagmomantis limbata'' diets.

Gallery

File:Chinese-mantis-bee.JPG, ''Iris oratoria'' eating a bee
File:Gottesanbeterin.JPG, ''Iris oratoria'' adult female
File:Iris oratoria-Sardinien-2008-Thomas Huntke.jpg, Adult female
File:Iris oratoria (Sierra de la Alpujarra, Spain).JPG, Adult female ''Iris oratoria'' from Sierra de la Alpujarra, Spain
File:Gottesanbeterin haeutung.jpg, Adult female ''Iris oratoria''
File:Fangheuschrecke - Hvar.jpg, Adult female ''Iris oratoria'' from Hvar
File:Grey Mantis.JPG, Adult male ''Iris oratoria'' from Jerusalem
File:Iris oratoria01.jpg, Adult male ''Iris oratoria''
File:Iris oratoria TPopp.jpg, ''Iris oratoria'' from Zoologische Staatssammlung München

See also

* Stagmomantis
* Pseudomantis albofimbriata
* List of mantis genera and species

Bibliography

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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2708969

Tarachodidae
Mantodea of Europe
Fauna of Greece
Fauna of Italy
Fauna of Spain
Insects described in 1758
Mantodea of Asia
Mantodea of North America
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus