Response to "An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans"

Sydney K Brannoch; Gavin J Svenson

doi:10.7717/peerj.4046

Response to "An exceptionally preserved 110 million years old praying mantis provides new insights into the predatory behaviour of early mantodeans"

PeerJ. 2017 Nov 16:5:e4046. doi: 10.7717/peerj.4046. eCollection 2017.

Authors

Sydney K Brannoch^{1

2}, Gavin J Svenson^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, OH, United States of America.
² Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States of America.

Abstract

Hörnig, Haug & Haug (2017) published a description of a new specimen of Santanmantis axelrodi MB.I.2068, an extinct species of praying mantis from the Crato Formation of Brazil. According to Hörnig, Haug & Haug (2017), the discovery of this new specimen brought with it implications for praying mantis character evolution and predatory behavior; it is with these lines of reasoning that we find fault. More specifically, we point to four flawed assumptions in their study that led to their unsubstantiated conclusion that S. axelrodi employed their mesothoracic legs in prey capture.

Keywords: Behavior; Cursorial appendages; Fossil; Mantodea; Praying mantis; Predatory behavior; Raptorial appendage; Rebuttal; Santanmantis axelrodi.

Grants and funding

The authors received no funding for this work.