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Mantis are known to feed on vertebrates, including small birds, lizards, frogs, newts, mice, snakes and turtles. Most of the time, these recordings have not been validated scientifically or have occurred under circumstances induced and manipulated by man.
Nevertheless, there was no scientific data on mantises feeding on fish until the recent study by Roberto Battiston, Musei del Canal di Brenta, Rajesh Puttaswamaiah, Bat Conservation India Trust and Nayak Manjunath. . Journal of Orthoptera Research.
Last year, the team observed an adult male hunting and devouring guppies in a pond in a private garden in Karnataka, India. Curiously, the predator returned five days in a row and captured a total of nine fish (a minimum of two per day). To reach its prey, the insect would walk on the lily pads and water the cabbage on the surface of the pond.
In addition to being a curious first, the observation raises three new points of discussion that would deserve to be deepened, the researchers point out.
First, the fact that prayer mantis hunt vertebrates outside the cage in the laboratory confirms that a single species of invertebrate is indeed capable of having an impact on an entire ecosystem. In this case, a mantis feeds on guppies, which in turn feed on aquatic insects.
Second, the discovery challenges prior knowledge about the visual abilities of the mantes. Although the structure of their eyes clearly indicates that they have evolved to become prey in broad daylight, the male specimen studied has turned out to be an excellent hunter in the dark. The insect managed to catch the nine fish at sunset or late at night.
In addition to the visual aspects, mantis may have also developed impressive learning abilities. The researchers speculate that the repetitive behavior observed might have been the result of a personal experience, used to navigate the sample. On the other hand, sophisticated cognitive skills could have allowed the mantis to develop its hunting strategies.
"Remembering the abundance of prey in a particular site, relative to its ease of capture and its nutritional content, could be an important factor in this choice and indirectly influence the physical shape of each predator," commented the scientists. . "This should be studied in other studies."
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