Tarachodes afzelii

Tarachodes afzelii, commonly known as Tanzanian ground mantis,[2] is a species of praying mantis in the genus Tarachodes.[3] It is native to woodland in Western and Central Africa.[4]

Tarachodes afzelii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Mantodea
Family:
Tarachodidae
Genus:
Tarachodes
Species:
T. afzelii
Binomial name
Tarachodes afzelii
Stal, 1871 [1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Tarachodes bandanus Giglio-Tos, 1917
  • Tarachodes griffinii Giglio-Tos, 1911
  • Tarachodes irrorata Gerstaecker, 1883

Description

Tarachodes afzelii protects itself using camouflage. It is an olive-brown or grey-brown colour, sometimes with dark bars or a dark midline, which makes it resemble the bark of the trees on which it lives. The body is flattened and held pressed against the surface of the trunk or branch so that its shadow does not give it away. Males have grey wings, which make them rather easier to detect, and females have vestigial wings and are unable to fly.[5][6]

Distribution

Tarachodes afzelii is native to Central and West Africa where it is found in the savannah woodlands that separate the rainforest from drier grassland.[5]

Ecology
Further information: ant mimicry

Most mantids do not guard their eggs or care for their young. The female Tarachodes afzelii lays a batch of up to two hundred eggs contained in a cryptically-coloured ootheca. She then broods the eggs by concealing the ootheca under her abdomen as she rests on the bark. She defends the eggs by driving away the tiny chalcid wasps that try to lay their eggs inside the ootheca, and the ants and beetles that would like to feed on the eggs. Although the eggs can develop without the mother brooding them, the hatching success rate is much lower in unbrooded eggs.[5]

Remarkably, Tarachodes afzelii continues her care of her nymphs after they hatch out in about three weeks.[5] For about two days, they cluster round her, and gather together again in her vicinity after a disturbance. At this stage they are vulnerable to attack by jumping spiders, and ants of the genera Dorylus and Megaponera. It is conceivable that the female might catch prey and allow her offspring to consume it, but such behaviour has not been observed.[5]

The first and second instars are Batesian mimics of black ants, while bigger instars and adults, neither of which are ant mimics, are predators of those same ants.[6]

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See also

References
  1. "Tarachodes (Barbachodes) afzelii (Stal, 1871)". Mantodea Species File. Retrieved 2015-08-02.
  2. "Tanzanian Ground Mantis: Tarachodes afzelii (Stål, 1871)". BioLib. Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. Catalogue of Life: 2015 Annual Checklist
  4. Ene, J. C. "The Distribution and Post-embryonic Development of Tarachodes Afzelii (Stål), (Mantodea: Eremiaphilidae)." Taylor and Francis Online. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
  5. James T. Costa (2006). The Other Insect Societies. Harvard University Press. pp. 136–137. ISBN 978-0-674-02163-1.
  6. Prete, Frederick R. (1999). The Praying Mantids. JHU Press. pp. 282, 297–298. ISBN 978-0-8018-6174-1.
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