Praying mantis species which looks and acts like a WASP to scare off predators is discovered

A new type of praying mantis that behaves and moves erratically like a wasp has been discovered near the Amazon river in Peru.

Researchers at Cleveland Museum of Natural History say the mantis, which was first seen in 2013 but only recently identified, is the first to mimic a wasp.

The discovery was made by Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Dr Gavin Svenson and former Case Western Reserve University graduate student, Henrique Rodrigues, when they caught the insect in a light trap.

Its bright coloration, wasp-like shape and unusual behaviour immediately caught the team’s eye – they now understand these adaptations are to ward off predators.

The mantis, named Vespamantoida wherley, has bright coloration and a wasp-like shape which caught the team’s eye during a general entomological survey of the field site in the Amazon

The mantis, named Vespamantoida wherleyi, is a bright red colour, which makes it looks like certain types of tropical wasp – although not the common type Westerners are most familiar with.

It also has the same body structure, erratic movements, and even antennae typically associated with most wasp species, the scientists said.

This apparent style of mimicry is a strategy in which a mostly harmless organism tries to look and act like a more threatening creature to try and scare its predators.

Praying mantises are eaten by animals such as frogs, bats, spiders and snakes, and this species may have evolved in a way that put those off trying to feast on it.

 It exhibits a bright red-orange coloration just like a wasp and also has the same body structure, erratic movements

Dr Svenson said: ‘Typically, the majority of species differentiation is discovered and confirmed within a lab or collection setting.

‘To have that rare eureka moment where you know you have found something new in the field is incredibly exciting.’ 

He said the obvious colouring and erratic behaviour is the mantis ‘advertising’ itself as potentially dangerous to its predators.

He added: ‘When you are a species that can be easily taken as prey, you advertise because you want predators to think that you are poisonous, or could injure them, or any combination of unpleasant factors that tell the predator to think twice before pursuing you.’

Most mantises opt to imitate a rather easier character – a leaf or other vegetation – to escape capture.

Wasp mimicry in adults is unique, and limited to just one family, of which Vespamantoida is now a part.

As a new species it will join one other recently recognised species within a new genus called Vespamantoida. 

Dr Svenson believes there are around 5,000 different species of wasp in the wild, double the 2,500 species of mantises recorded. 

Most mantis opt to imitate a rather easier character – a leaf or other vegetation. Wasp mimicry in adults is unique

He added: ‘I think the most interesting thing about this family of mantises is the fact that most of the adults do mimic wasps, and that is quite unique for praying mantises.

‘I think the next natural thing is to study the evolutionary biology of the lineage. 

‘If wasp mimicry is successful in this lineage, why has it not evolved in the other lineages as well? 

‘Why have no other species within the family evolved brightly colored wasp mimicry? We’re just not sure.’ 

The results of the team’s findings were published today in the online journal PeerJ.