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The Praying Mantises of the Maltese Islands: Distribution and Ecology (Mantodea)

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The Praying Mantises of the Maltese Islands: Distribution and Ecology (Mantodea) Fragmenta entomologica, 52 (2): 341–348 (2020) eISSN: 2284-4880 (online version) pISSN: 0429-288X (print version) Research article Submitted: September 5th, 2020 - Accepted: September 28th, 2020 - Published: November 15th, 2020 The praying mantises of the Maltese Islands: distribution and ecology (Mantodea) Thomas CASSAR Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Malta - Msida MSD 2080, Malta - [email protected] Abstract This study presents a species account of the mantises of the Maltese Islands, including notes on the ecology and distribution of each spe- cies. A total of three species are known to exist locally; Ameles spallanzania (Rossi, 1792), Mantis religiosa (Linnaeus, 1758) and Riv- etina baetica Rambur, 1839. The presence of Ameles decolor (Charpentier, 1825) cannot be confirmed by any recently collected mate- rial, but the species is not excluded from the Maltese entomofauna. Two doubtful records are also discussed. All species present in the archipelago are typically found in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Key words: mantids, Malta, Mediterranean. Introduction “Devil’s mare” respectively. Though Gulia (1858) men- tions Iris oratoria and Blepharopsis mendica, much doubt The Maltese archipelago is composed of a number of can be cast on these identifications. Maltese mantises were small, low islands situated in the centre of the Mediter- not mentioned again in literature until the work of Valletta ranean Sea, aligned in a North-West to South-East direc- (1954), at that time including two species - Mantis religi- tion. The total area of the archipelago amounts to 314 km2, osa and Ameles spallanzania, along with a list of Orthop- and they lie approximately 96 km to the south of Sicily tera. A year later, Valletta (1955) added another two spe- (Italy, Europe) and some 350 km directly north of the Lib- cies, Rivetina baetica and Ameles decolor, and since then, yan coast (North Africa). The three largest islands of the have been added to the Maltese entomofauna, though sev- archipelago are inhabited, namely Malta, Gozo and Com- eral authors have commented in brief on certain aspects of ino, with a total population of 514,564. A number of un- species’ distribution and/or ecology. The aim of the pre- inhabited islets and rocks also occur along the coasts of sent work is to review the literature available on the pray- these islands, such as St Paul’s Islands, Cominotto, Filfla ing mantises of the Maltese Islands and to add new obser- and Fungus Rock. The climate is typically Mediterrane- vations on distribution, ecology and life history of the spe- an, with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. Despite cies occurring in the archipelago. their small size, the Maltese Islands are home to an esti- mated 4,500 species of terrestrial and freshwater arthro- pods (Dandria & Mifsud 2017). Faunal and floral biodi- Material and Methods versity is, however, intensely pressured by human activity, especially land-use (Schembri 1993). The personal collection and field notes of the author were The very first mention of praying mantises in the Mal- used to produce this annotated species list, including spec- tese Islands comes from a series of lectures presented in imens collected by hand, malaise and UV/MV light trap- Italian by the Maltese botanist Dr Gavino Gulia (1858) in ping, sweep netting, and the rearing of wild-caught speci- San Antonio palace. When discussing the order Orthoptera mens in captivity. In addition, the collection of mantids in the archipelago, Gulia (1858) writes the following: “The housed at the National Museum of Natural History (NM- praying mantis belongs to this order, of which I have col- NH) in Mdina (Malta) was studied in order to establish lected three local species. These bear the vernacular name the local distribution of species up to 70 years ago. Mal- of Debba ta l’Infern... I know Mantis oratoria, M. men dica, tese mantid material was also examined from the follow- and another that so far I have not been able to determine.” ing collections: A note on the vernacular name: both Debba tal-Infern ACC Aldo Catania private collection and Debba tax-Xitan are used to refer to praying mantis- DMTCC David Mifsud & Thomas Cassar private col- es in the Maltese language, the latter being more com- lection mon nowadays, and they translate to “Hell’s mare” and LFCC Louis F. Cassar private collection 341 Cassar Previous literature regarding the mantises of Malta and Oothecae. The ootheca is up to 30 mm in length, ovoid their distribution were referred to, including the doubtful to oblong, white to pale yellow when freshly deposited, records of Gulia (1858), the preliminary lists by Vallet- becoming a darker yellowish-brown when dry; the emer- ta (1954, 1955) as well as the observations published by gence area is paler and occupies about one-third of the dor- various authors such as Cilia (1981), Sammut (1982), Val- sal oothecal area (Fig. 2). Oothecae are deposited on or letta (1982) and Casha (1984). Specimens of Ameles were under stones, on tree branches, under rocky overhangs and identified using the information provided by Fontana et the walls of buildings. In Malta, the oothecae are known to al. (2002), Battiston & Fontana (2005) and Agabiti et al. be parasitized by at least one species of torymid wasp, Po- (2010). The nomenclature used in this paper for species dagrion splendens (Cassar 2016). names follows Otte et al. (2020), and morphological ter- minology follows Brannoch et al. (2017). Nymphs and imagoes. Mantis religiosa is readily identi- fied, as it is the only species in the Maltese Islands with a bold eyespot of white and black on the inner front coxae. Results Adults of both sexes are macropterous (Figs 3-4). Early in- star nymphs appear in June, adults may begin to appear as The present work compiles records from past publica- early as August, but become abundant in September and tions, as well as several Maltese collections, and provides October, and females may persist until December. Indi- a check-list of the mantid fauna of the Maltese Islands. A viduals may be yellow-ochre, grass green, grey-brown or total of four species were recorded from the Maltese Is- brown-sepia and the latter three colours seem to be more lands, all from the same family – Mantidae. For each spe- common in individuals present later on in the year, possi- cies, a description of their distribution and ecology is here bly due to a change in vegetation colour after the first au- under included. tumnal rains (Battiston & Fontana 2010). Adult Mantis re- ligiosa have been observed to feed on a wide range of taxa Mantis religiosa religiosa (Linnaeus, 1758) (Figs 1-6) in the Maltese Islands; lepidopterans such as Pieris, dip- terans such as various Muscidae, Calliphoridae and Sar- Material examined. MALTA: Gћargћur, 15.XI.1959, cophagidae, cicadas (Cicada orni), dragonflies such as leg. C. DeLucca, 1♀, [NMNH]; Madliena, 5.IX.1959, leg. Sympetrum fonscolombii (Degabriele 2013) and Maltese C. DeLucca, 1♀, [NMNH]; Wied il-Kbir, 10.X.1964, leg. wall lizards, Podarcis filfolensis (Casha 1984), but espe- G. Lanfranco, 1♀, [NMNH]; Xemxija, 28.IX.1971, leg. G. cially grasshoppers such as Eyprepocnemis plorans, Ac- Lanfranco, 1♀, [NMNH]; Sliema, 1965, leg. G. Lanfran- rotylus patruelis, Oedipoda miniata, Sphingonotus caeru- co, 1♀ [NMNH]; Ħ’Attard, 9.IX.1957, leg. G. Lanfran- lans, Calliptamus spp. and Anacridium aegyptium among co, 1♂ [NMNH]; [loc?], 23.VIII.1952, leg. G. Lanfranco, others (Fig. 6). In September 2018, the author observed a 1♂ [NMNH]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 6.IX.1970, leg. G. Lan- nymph of Mantis religiosa remaining near domestic dog franco, 1 nymph [NMNH]; Gћajn Riћana, 11.VIII.1969, faeces in order to successively capture and devour mul- leg. G. Lanfranco, 1 nymph [NMNH]; Mtaћleb, 9.X.1972, tiple sarcophagids (Fig. 5). Deimatic display consists of leg. M. Zammit, 1♀ [NMNH]; Dragunara, 9.IX.1982, spreading both pairs of wings and exposing the coxal eye- leg. M. Zammit, 1♀ [NMNH]; Rabat, 17.X.2003, leg. spot by splaying the raptorial forelimbs horizontally in op- P. Sammut, 2♂♂ [NMNH]; Rabat, 12.IX.2004, leg. P. posite directions. Sam mut, 1♂ [NMNH]; Żebbuġ, 27.XI.2013, leg. T. Cas- sar, 1♂ [DMTCC]; Binġemma, VIII.2014, leg. T. Cas- Rivetina baetica tenuidentata La Greca & Lombardo, 1982 sar, 1♀ [DMTCC]; Birkirkara, 30.IX.2014, leg. T. Cas- (Figs 7-13) sar, 1♂ [DMTCC]; Mellieћa (Marfa), 19.VIII.2015, leg. T. Cassar, 1♀ collected as last instar nymph and reared to Material examined. MALTA: Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 13.IX. adulthood [DMTCC]; Dingli, IX.2015, leg. T. Cassar, 1♀ 1970, leg. G. Lanfranco, 1♂ [NMNH]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, [DMTCC]. COMINO: 23.II.2020, leg. T. Cassar, 1 oo- 7.VIII.1983, leg. M. Zammit, 1♀ [NMNH]; Rabat, 26.VI- theca [DMTCC]. GOZO: Sannat (Ta’ Ċenċ), 8.II.2015, II.1983, leg. P. Sammut, 1♂ [NMNH]; Baћrija, VIII.1994, leg. T. Cassar, 1 ootheca [DMTCC]; Qbajjar, 3.XI.2019, leg. M. Zammit, 1♀ [NMNH]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 6.VI- videographed by S. Bonnici, 2♀; Nadur, 15.IX.2020, pho- II.1983, leg. S. Schembri, 1♂ [LFCC]; Mellieћa (Baj- tographed by B. Grech, 1♂. da Ridge), 24.VII.1977, leg. S. Schembri, 1♂ [LFCC]; Mellieћa (Għadira), 3.VIII.1976, leg. L. Cassar, 1♂ [LF- Distribution and habitat. Mantis religiosa is a very com- CC]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 17.VII.1969, leg. G. Lanfran- mon and widespread mantid in the Maltese Islands (Fig. co, 2♂♂ [LFCC]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 24.VII.1972, leg. G. 1). In the archipelago, the species is not restricted to a par- Bonett, 1♂ [LFCC]; Baћar iċ-Ċagћaq, 8.VIII.1976, leg. ticular habitat, breeding in garigue, grassland and clay S.
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