Friday, August 28, 2009

Brunner's Mantis


This one was particularly difficult to identify, and I admit to soliciting the opinion of the wonderfully helpful people at What's That Bug?
It looked like a walkingstick: long and skinny with long and skinny legs.
It looked like a mantis: serrated sides and thicker front legs.

I searched everywhere through both walkingstick and mantis directories, and could not find it.
The Brunner's Mantis is also known by the name, get this, The Walkingstick Mantis, due to it's uncanny resemblance to walkingsticks.

These things are big, the body itself was about 6 inches long and that didn't include it's 1.5 inch long antenna. They are vibrant green, with light antenna and what look to be short antenna sticking out the back end. They also have the Mantis' half triangular half hammer-esque head.
It's two back pairs of legs are very close together (both are also very close to the center of the bug) and at first glance look like they only have one joint to them; their "feet" are very small. From the middle legs to the front legs the sides of the body are finely serrated like a baby steak knife. The front pair of legs have the obviously Mantis backward bending first joint and have the little hairs on the second section of leg.

The weirdest thing about Brunner's Mantis is they've never found a male, never ever ever. Under observation these are born female, lay eggs, and those eggs hatch into females. They can do this without ever touching another of it's species.
They call it "Thelytoky Parthenogenesis," or to put it in easier terms it's a form of asexual reproduction. They're not hermaphroditic, they're just all female. It's fairly rare, but not unheard of.

So, I've found a big, ugly, weird bug!

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