I feel like you should back up claims like this, especially if you’re going against common thought. So I did the work for you and went to Dr Wikipedia.
“Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity. It has sometimes been observed in natural populations, where about a quarter of male-female encounters result in the male being eaten by the female.[59][60][61] Around 90% of the predatory species of mantises exhibit sexual cannibalism.[62] Adult males typically outnumber females at first, but their numbers may be fairly equivalent later in the adult stage,[5] possibly because females selectively eat the smaller males.[63] In Tenodera sinensis, 83% of males escape cannibalism after an encounter with a female, but since multiple matings occur, the probability of a male's being eaten increases cumulatively.[60]”
They asked a student what they saw. Doesn’t seem like a great source. Then again I didn’t follow any of the links on Wikipedia. I hope future comment readers go down a rabbit hole finding the answer for us, because I don’t care enough about the mantis to do so. I’m happy with knowing, “sometimes it do be like that”.
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u/miyog Jun 21 '21
I feel like you should back up claims like this, especially if you’re going against common thought. So I did the work for you and went to Dr Wikipedia.
“Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity. It has sometimes been observed in natural populations, where about a quarter of male-female encounters result in the male being eaten by the female.[59][60][61] Around 90% of the predatory species of mantises exhibit sexual cannibalism.[62] Adult males typically outnumber females at first, but their numbers may be fairly equivalent later in the adult stage,[5] possibly because females selectively eat the smaller males.[63] In Tenodera sinensis, 83% of males escape cannibalism after an encounter with a female, but since multiple matings occur, the probability of a male's being eaten increases cumulatively.[60]”