Twenty-Year Study Shows How Climate and Habitat Change Impact One Mantid Species
It may be just one study of one species in one field in Virginia, but 20 years of monitoring Chinese mantid numbers there illustrates the potential double whammy of habitat loss (even a naturally occurring one) and climate change.
Eat This, Not That: Why Mantids Eat Everything But the Gut of Some Caterpillar Prey
By Leslie Mertz When a Chinese mantid (Tenodera sinensis) grabs a nice, plump monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus), it not only “bites into the fleshy bits” but also eventually gnaws deeply […]
The Butterfly Changes its Spots — Eyespots, that is
Eyespots are one of nature’s favorite forms of misdirection, shared by fish, frogs, birds, and many insects. Aside from deflecting attack, they can also be used as a “startle” mechanism, […]