Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T03:56:28.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The European Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa L.) as a Predator of the Red-legged Grasshopper (Melanoplus femurrubrum (De Geer))

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

L. J. Mook
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario
D. M. Davies
Affiliation:
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

Abstract

Radioactive phosphorus was used as a tracer in assessing the number of red-legged grasshoppers (Melanoplus femurrubrum (De Geer)) eaten by the European praying mantis (Mantis religiosa L.) under seminatural conditions. The predator showed a functional response to changing prey densities with a continuously decreasing increase in the number of prey removed from the population.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, W. F., James, H. G. and Welch, H. E.. 1955. A study of predators of mosquito larvae and pupae with a radioactive tracer. Can. Ent. 87: 350356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, R. A., Riegert, P. W. and Spinks, J. W. T.. 1954. Persistence of radioactivity in grasshoppers (Acrididae) tagged with phosphorus-32. Can. Ent. 86: 201203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holling, C. S. 1959. Some characteristics of simple types of predation and parasitism. Can. Ent. 91: 385398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, H. G. 1949. The distribution in Ontario of the European mantis, Mantis religiosa L. 79th Annu. Rep. ent. Soc. Ont. (1948): 4144.Google Scholar
Judd, W. W. 1947. The European praying mantis (Mantis religiosa L.) at Hamilton, Ont. Can. Field-Nat. 61: 197.Google Scholar
Mook, L. J. 1960. Grasshopper populations at low density — Ecological observations and the influence of some mortality factors, emphasizing predation. Ph.D. Thesis, McMaster University. I–VI, 1117.Google Scholar
Nicholson, A. J. 1954. An outline of the dynamics of animal populations. Austral. J. Zool. 2: 965.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watt, K. E. F. 1959. A mathematical model for the effect of densities of attacked and attacking species on the number attacked. Can. Ent. 91: 129144.Google Scholar