So, uh. Parthenogenesis (or, "virgin birth"--female animals having children without ever mating) is recorded in a few mantis species. But...apparently it exists in a few more, too.
See, I had Bo, a shield mantis (Rhombodera megaera), and I know for a fact that she never mated. So, when she made an ooth (egg sac), I assumed it was nonviable and put it in a little jar with rice to desiccate and preserve it.
Recently, though, I checked up on it...
Looking closely, you can see the raptorial claws and the long prothorax, plus the little flat flipped-up abdomen. There's nothing that could be but a baby praying mantis :|
So, then I thought about the other ooths I have. My ghost mantises (two females, Phantasma and Goria) laid tons of ooths all over their sticks, and again, never mated. And sure enough, when I look at one of them now...
See, this was a stick I kept out in the open. And when baby mantises come out of the ooth, they're initially these little larval things called pronymphs that they immediately molt from. On top of that, this is exactly the color and texture the mother had.
This looks like a pronymph shed. So, somewhere in my room, for a little while, there was probably a baby ghost mantis wandering around.
I have never heard of parthenogenesis in either of these species or any other members of their genuses. How common is this?!!
