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Mantid ootheca (Insecta: Mantodea: Hierodula) or a home for many arthropods?

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Abstract

This is the first discovery of nesting an ant queen in the mantid’s oothecae chamber. A total of 93 oothecae have been collected and dissected. After tearing the outer skin of the most oothecae apart (80 out of 93), a queen ant Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini) and her eggs were observed. All of these 80 oothecae were parasited by parasitoid wasp Podagrion pachymerum (Chalcidoidea: Toryminae). According to our observations, it was assumed that the ant, Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini), inhabited the oothecae of mantid, Hierodula tenuidentata (Mantidae: Paramantini), to get a ready nest and accessible food using parasitoid wasps. We observed a mixed-species aggregation of arthropods in most of the examined oothecae. The arthropods that were observed in most of the collected oothecae are listed below: An ant, Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini); a mimicking spider ant, Synageles persianus (Salticidae: Dendryphantini); a parasitoid, Podagrion pachymerum (Chalcidoidea: Toryminae); a pseudoscorpion species, Chernes sp. (Chernetidae: Chernetini); a thysanoptera species, Haplothrips sp. (Phlaeothripidae: Haplothripini) and a neuroptera species, Semidalis sp. (Coniopterygidae: Conwentziini).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. B. Taylor, Australian National University, Canberra; Dr. H. Lotfalizadeh, Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection; Dr. M. Nassirkhani, Islamic Azad University of Arak, Department of Plant Protection; Dr. K. Minai, Shiraz University, Department of Plant Protection; Dr. O. Mirshamsi, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Department of Biology; for confirmation of the species identification. We are also thankful to our colleagues M. Barmeshori and Y. Bakhshi for their aid in the fieldwork. We are grateful to Dr. Julio Rivera for his comments on the manuscript.

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This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Zohreh Mirzaee, Mehregan Ebrahimi, Saber Sadeghi & Maryam Hajian

  2. Musei del Canal Di Brenta, Palazzo Perli - Via Garibaldi 27, 36029, Valbrenta, Italy

    Roberto Battiston

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  1. Zohreh Mirzaee
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  2. Mehregan Ebrahimi
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  3. Saber Sadeghi
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  4. Roberto Battiston
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  5. Maryam Hajian
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Correspondence to Saber Sadeghi.

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Mirzaee, Z., Ebrahimi, M., Sadeghi, S. et al. Mantid ootheca (Insecta: Mantodea: Hierodula) or a home for many arthropods?. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Sci 45, 1925–1931 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-021-01184-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40995-021-01184-3

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