Feeding behaviour of the praying mantis: A learned modification

THE feeding behaviour of the praying mantis typically consists of a period of visual search, a slow approach to the prey, capture by an extremely rapid grasping movement of the raptorial prothoracic legs and ingestion of the captured food^1,2. The stimulus releasing the strike is visual and is maximal when the prey moves within reach of the forelegs and exhibits rapid, jerky movements of its appendages³. The degree of responsiveness of a mantis to prey is dependent on its nutritional state⁴. As starvation proceeds, a mantis will become aware of and stalk prey moving at greater distances from its body, will stalk more quickly and will strike at larger prey (ref. 4 and my unpublished work).