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First record of Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Tarachodidae) in Romania

July 2019
Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 62(1):27-30

DOI:10.3897/travaux.62.e38596

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Iris oratoria is recorded for the first time in Alba, Vrancea and Călărași counties, Romania. The presence of the species in Romania is not unexpected, as it is also present in the neighbouring countries and its tendency of migrating north is well known.

Round tubercles on the frontal sclerite.

…

The five external spines on the fore femora.

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Coloration pattern on the hind wings.

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First record of Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera: Mantodea:

Tarachodidae) in Romania

Alexandru Cazacu1

1 Ștefan cel Mare University, Str. Universității 13, Suceava 720229, Romania

Corresponding author: Alexandru Cazacu (alexandru.cazacu93@yahoo.com)

Received 16 January 2019 | Accepted 4 April 2019 | Published 31 July 2019

Citation: Cazacu A (2019) First record of Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Tarachodidae) in Romania.

Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle “Grigore Antipa” 62(1): 27–30. https://doi.org/10.3897/

travaux.62.e38596

Abstract

Iris oratoria is recorded for the rst time in Alba, Vrancea and Călărași counties, Romania. e pres-

ence of the species in Romania is not unexpected, as it is also present in the neighbouring countries

and its tendency of migrating north is well known.

Keywords

Iris oratoria, Mantodea, Romania.

e suborder Mantodea is represented by thermophilic, predatory insects. ese

are heterometabolous insects, with characteristic raptorial front legs adapted for

catching prey.

ree species of mantids were previously known to occur in Romania: Man-

tis religiosa (Linnaeus, 1758), Empusa fasciata (Brullé, 1832) and Ameles heldreichi

(Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1882).

e presence of Iris oratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) in Romania can be attributed to

climate change or to international transportation, given the fact that the rst sight-

ing took place in a train station. Distribution of the species includes Albania, Bul-

garia, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Portugal, Spain, Serbia, Kosovo, Vojvodina,

Montenegro, North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, N Chad), Cy-

prus, West Asia (Asian Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iran) (Kment 2010).

In 1930, the species was introduced in south-western United States (California,

Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle

“Grigore Antipa” 62 (1): 27–30 (2019)

doi: 10.3897/travaux.62.e38596

Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

FAUNISTIC NOTE

Cazacu

Arizona) and spread north and east, where it survived and reproduced due to later

emerging than the native Stagmomantis limbata, as well as its late-season persis-

tence (Maxwell & Eitan 1998).

Iris oratoria is a xerothermic Mediterranean species. Males measure 28–41 mm

in length, while females are a bit larger, measuring between 34–47 mm. Adults are

usually green, rarely brown. e male wings surpass the apex of the abdomen, while

in females, the wings are shorter, not reaching the tip of the abdomen. e vertex

is without conical protuberances, the frontal sclerite has two small round tubercles

(Fig. 1) and the fore femora with ve external spines (Fig. 2) (Kment 2010). e

species has a characteristic drawing on the second pair of wings. e hind wing has

a central dark spot in the anal area, followed by other dispersed spots with metallic

violet-blue iridescences. e discoidal area of the hind wing has a dispersed bright

red colour, readily exposed in case of danger (Fig. 3). Males of Iris oratoria can be

distinguished from males of Mantis religiosa by their diminished size, being smaller

than 20 mm, and their lack of black and white spot on the interior of the coxae.

Probably the most striking dierence is the characteristic coloration pattern of the

posterior wings in Iris oratoria, while in M. religiosa the wings are translucent and

not pigmented.

e species’ presence was recorded for the rst time on 8 Aug. 2017, when two

adult males were collected. e specimens were observed ying at night, attracted

by articial lights in Alba Iulia railway station. We continued to search for the spe-

cies in four other counties: Sibiu, Mehedinți, Constanța and Vrancea, traveling by

train and by car. On 13 Aug. 2017, another male was observed and collected on E85

National Road, in Mărășești, Vrancea. e insect was also found near an articial

Figure 1. Round tubercles on the frontal sclerite.

First record of Iris oratoria in Romania

Figure 2. e ve external spines on the fore femora.

Figure 3. Coloration pattern on the hind wings.

Cazacu

light source. e third observation of the species comes from a photo taken by N.

Dănescu in a eld in Călărași county, on 16 Aug. 2017, but this specimen was not

collected.

e studied material is as follows: 2 ♂♂, Romania, Alba county, Alba Iulia,

46.058010oN 23.579243o E, altitude 216 m asl, 2017.08.08, leg. A. Cazacu (one stored

in A. Cazacu private collection, Suceava and one stored in "Grigore Antipa" National

Museum of Natural History, Bucharest); 1 ♂, Romania, Vrancea county, Mărășești,

45.871609oN 27.210143o E, alt. 79 m asl, 2017.08.13, leg. A. Cazacu (stored in A.

Cazacu private collection, Suceava); 1 ♂, Romania, Călărași county, Cuza Vodă,

44.272986oN 27.267077oE, altitude 37 m asl, 2017.08.16, obs. N. Dănescu.

Most likely, these specimens arrived on Romanian territory from one of the

neighboring countries where the species is present, such as Serbia or Bulgaria. It is

known that the species tends to migrate North (Maxwell & Eitan 1998) and the fact

that the specimens were spotted in three dierent locations makes the presence of

the species less likely random and it shows that it might be here to stay.

We plan to expand our search for the species in the other counties where it

might be present, to conrm the presence of female individuals, nymphs and oothe-

cae in order to see if the species is reproducing in Romania.

Acknowledgements

e paper couldn’t have been done without Professor Dr. ing. Mihai-Leonard Du-

duman’s coordination and guidance. Many thanks to Marco Villani for his input and

to my traveling partner Claudiu Ionuț Laibiuc.

References

Maxwell MR, Eitan O (1998) Range expansion of an introduced mantid Iris oratoria and

niche overlap with a native mantid Stagmomantis limbata (Mantodea: Mantidae). An-

nals of the Entomological Society of America 91(4): 422–429.

Kment P (2012) First exact records of Mediterranean Mantis, Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera:

Mantodea: Tarachodidae) from Croatia. e Journal of Silesian Museum in Opava (A)

61: 43–48.

Maxwell MR (1999) e risk of cannibalism and male mating behavior in the Mediterra-

nean Praying Mantid, Iris oratoria. Behaviour 136(2): 205–219.

Uvarov BP (2009) Notes on the genus Iris Saussure (Orthoptera, Mantidae). Annals and

Magazine of Natural History 8: 234–238.

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Mantises (Insecta: Mantodea) of the southwestern part of Odesa Region (Ukraine)

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ANN ENTOMOL SOC AM

Iris oratoria L. invaded southern California in the 1930s. We describe its subsequent northward and eastward expansion in the southwestern United States. The rate of expansion into Arizona suggests that human activities have played a part in its spread. This mantid has come into contact with a native species Stagmomantis limbata Hahn. We present 3 yr of field data on 2 components of niche overlap between these 2 species: overlap in habitat use over time and in diet. At a field site in Davis, CA, S. limbata hatched earlier in the season than did L. oratoria, and I. oratoria tended to persist longer into the year than did S. limbata. The diets of the species overlapped to a moderate extent, yet they differed with respect to prey type and length. S. limbata ate a greater proportion of orthopterans and mantids than did I. oratoria, and S. limbata ate longer prey than did I. oratoria. Additionally, S. limbata adults had 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 result in a reduction of size overlap and, consequently, diet overlap among nymphs of the 2 species. Thus, the differences in body size and phenology may be mechanisms that allow these species to coexist.

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This study examined male behavior in response to the risk of cannibalism in the Mediterranean praying mantid, Iris oratoria (Mantodea: Mantidae). The risk of cannibalism was manipulated by placing males in one of two positions at the start of a mating trial: Frontal, where the males faced the females' fronts (high risk of cannibalism), or Rear, where the males were behind the females, facing their posteriors (lower risk). Three male behaviors were examined in terms of risk-reduction: whether the male attempted to mount the female, the direction of his first mount attempt, and the time taken for him to attempt to mount. Initial position did not have a significant effect on whether males attempted to mount the females. Males showed a preference for non-frontal mount attempts, and males placed Frontally were less likely to mount from their initial direction than were males placed in the Rear. Males placed in the Rear attempted to mount sooner than males placed Frontally, especially if the males could approach and mount while remaining behind the females. While the males approached the females, movements by both sexes resulted in changes in how the males faced the females,

First exact records of Mediterranean Mantis, Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Tarachodidae) from Croatia

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P Kment

Kment P (2012) First exact records of Mediterranean Mantis, Iris oratoria (Dictyoptera: Mantodea: Tarachodidae) from Croatia. The Journal of Silesian Museum in Opava (A) 61: 43-48.

Notes on the genus Iris Saussure (Orthoptera, Mantidae)