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Always 19 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:57.399 read the label or leaflet. 20 00:01:00.520 --> 00:01:02.960 Oh hey, it's that skin on the top of your 21 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.000 cold hot chocolate. 22 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:04.879 I'm Ali Ward. 23 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:09.439 This is Ologies, and if you missed last week's Minnesota announcement, okay, 24 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:13.359 So our shorter kid friendly episodes they're called Smologies. It's 25 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:16.040 its own show. We launched another show. It has its 26 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:20.640 own feed. You can subscribe to Smologies. Anywhere you find podcasts. 27 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:22.959 You can look for this colorful new logo with a 28 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.159 bird and a frog on it. Tell everyone you know 29 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:28.799 who needs podcasts for the littler ones or work where 30 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.400 we don't swear. We keep it classroom safe. So that's Smologies. 31 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:34.959 But this is Ologies, which means we talk about the 32 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.519 weirder stuff. That's the way I like it. So this week, 33 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.480 it's a long time love of mine. It's Mantis. It's 34 00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.040 Mantis's We're gonna figure it out. I met this guest 35 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.719 via Instagram and within a minute of seeing his page, 36 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:49.920 I messaged I begged him to talk to me. Thirty 37 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:52.319 six hours later he was recording this and my life 38 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:55.200 is better for it. So he graduated from UC Davis 39 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:57.799 and entomology and is now getting his master's at Toastin 40 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:01.159 University in Maryland, with a PhD up next on his list, 41 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.480 but already has two published papers and is known in 42 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:08.520 entomology circles as a mantis expert. When a mantis expert 43 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.199 is quoted in the media, there's a good chance it's him. 44 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:15.639 He's been studying and keeping mantises for fifteen years and 45 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:20.240 even has the handle mentodiology on Instagram. Legit, So we're 46 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:21.520 going to chat with him and if you but first, 47 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:23.759 thank you patrons for supporting the show at patreon dot 48 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:26.639 com slash ologies and making this possible. You can join 49 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:29.719 for one hot dollar a month. Thank you to folks 50 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:32.159 in ologies merch, which is linked in the show notes, 51 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:34.840 and we will repost pictures of you in it by 52 00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:38.840 tagging hashtagologies merch, so please take us with you this summer. 53 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.520 And thank you to everyone who leaves reviews, which helped 54 00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:44.400 the show so much. I read every single one usually 55 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:47.520 it's great. If you want proof fine. Thank you to 56 00:02:47.639 --> 00:02:51.280 Claire Rose Wrights, who listens when getting all their little 57 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.680 chores done and says brava to Ali and team. You 58 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:57.960 are my favorite dad. Also, thanks for making smologies its 59 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.039 own show page. We love that for you and for us, 60 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.919 So yes your Internet dad. Thanks each and every reviewer, 61 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:07.159 and yes, smolo Jesus is his own show link in 62 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.120 the show it's exciting. Also, thank you for the one 63 00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:13.919 star review, Cloudy two g who says thank you ologies 64 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.080 is my favorite podcast. I appreciate those words, Cloudy Tug, 65 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:19.759 even though I think you met five stars and not one. 66 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:23.199 But that's okay, it happens, Okay. Mantotiology coined by an 67 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:26.199 actual expert and now a real word, and you will 68 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.280 find it used in mantid forums, usually talking about him 69 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:32.360 because he knows a lot. So the word mantis, Oh, 70 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:36.039 this has such a good history, so surprising. I figured 71 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:41.120 man came from manus like hand, but no, No, Mantis 72 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.199 comes from the Greek for a seer or a soothsayer 73 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:48.840 or a prophet, which came from earlier Greek meaning to 74 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:53.240 be inspired, and that route comes from passion and thinking. 75 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:57.599 It has the same etymology as words like museum and 76 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:02.240 mentor and mania, mantis mania. It all comes from the 77 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:04.639 same place. So we're going to go more into their 78 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:07.560 mythology as well, but for now, talk in. Get your 79 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:12.240 appetite up for chatter about their evolution, barbed arms, how 80 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:18.279 they hunt, sexual cannibalism, diving heads first into breakfast, mantis motherhood, 81 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:22.639 their alien egg cases, huge eyes, what common pets they 82 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:24.639 act like, if you should keep one as a pet, 83 00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:30.560 invasive mantis's manted versus mantis, whether they actually eat hummingbirds 84 00:04:30.759 --> 00:04:33.199 or if that was an Internet hoax, and why they 85 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.000 can show you the Way to Hell with entomologist researcher, 86 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:42.639 manted keeper Absolute Pleasure and mentodiologist low Heat Garrick A. 87 00:04:42.720 --> 00:05:03.240 Potti. I was like, I want to go. 88 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:04.120 They're so bad. 89 00:05:04.319 --> 00:05:06.000 I want to do so bad. I've never been to 90 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:07.120 an asmology grand Friends. 91 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.800 That was actually my first one. It was a lot 92 00:05:08.839 --> 00:05:09.160 of fun. 93 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:11.079 Yeah, oh I would have I don't know, I would 94 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:12.920 have died. I mean they're all there, right, They're like 95 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:17.480 the ant people and the wasp people and the you know, 96 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:18.439 butterfly people. 97 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:20.680 It was honestly overwhelming. It's like when you have a 98 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.040 big menu at a good restaurant. There's so many options 99 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:24.920 we want to see you can't pick. 100 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:29.480 And Oh, first, I'll also have you say your first 101 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.279 and last name in your pronouns. I forgot to that. 102 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.639 Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, my name is lohiit Gherka Patti. 103 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:38.639 I go by him pronouns. Yeah, mantis is are cool. 104 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:42.839 How long have you been a bug nerd. 105 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:47.759 Yeah, that is the technical term that I tend to use. Yeah, 106 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:50.920 I've been into bugs ever since I was like five 107 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:53.360 or six. It's sort of been like a lifelong thing 108 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.759 for me. I was initially really into dinosaurs and then 109 00:05:56.759 --> 00:06:00.720 they kind of just sort of split into other nature 110 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:03.480 things and bugs are just always around, so they're really 111 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:06.600 easy to observe and sort of, you know, play away with, 112 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:07.639 keep his pets whatever. 113 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:10.639 Did you have a gateway bug that got you from 114 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.800 dinosaurs to bugs in general? Was it manted or was 115 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:15.959 it like tarantula or something? 116 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:20.199 Oh, it was actually funny you mentioned spiders. I'll circle 117 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:23.040 back to it, but it was actually lady bugs to 118 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:25.680 start off with. I actually did a science fair project 119 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:28.680 on lead bug life cycles and I sort of had 120 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:31.160 been collecting them outside our apartment and you know, just 121 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:32.560 find them on grass. I was like, oh, they must 122 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.439 be eating grass. Of course, most people probably listening to 123 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:38.800 know that they do not eat grass, and so that 124 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:41.240 experiment did not end up going well. But what it 125 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:43.399 did do is it prompted me to go to the 126 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:45.839 local library and do some research on their life cycle. 127 00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:48.240 And then, you know, knowing that the eat aphids and things, 128 00:06:48.279 --> 00:06:50.319 like that. I was able to actually rear them through 129 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.480 through one year of their life cycle, and that was 130 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.160 super exciting, and that kind of really set me down 131 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.079 this path of insect keeping. 132 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.399 We spoke over video chat and behind him was like 133 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:05.519 a baker's rack filled with tidy, white netted enclosures, each 134 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:07.439 with a cherished book or two. 135 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.879 You can kind of see this is my room, a 136 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:16.800 lot of stuff. So he Yeah, Captive observation has been 137 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.759 really really exciting for me. I think it's a great 138 00:07:18.759 --> 00:07:21.079 opportunity to stay sort of connected with nature. But then 139 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:23.240 you get to see all these all these things that 140 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.480 they do that you might not normally be privy to, 141 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:28.040 because I mean, most of the time it's hard to 142 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.399 find some of these insects. You know, they're small, or 143 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.879 they're just well camouflaged, like our mantises, and so getting 144 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:35.639 to see them in captivity, you get to see really 145 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:36.480 special stuff. 146 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:39.279 I hadn't thought about that, about how much of the 147 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.600 behavior you'd have to be really right place, right time 148 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:46.240 to ever catch. And what about mantids in particular. I 149 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:47.600 don't know if you know this about me, but I 150 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:51.040 did have a pet mantis. Her name was Mirabel, and 151 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:55.480 oh she loved mealworms more than anything. And this was 152 00:07:55.519 --> 00:07:58.560 in my thirties and like, not when I was six. 153 00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:02.639 This was like, yeah, not that long ago. When she died, 154 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:05.319 we had an open casket funeral for her and oh, 155 00:08:05.519 --> 00:08:09.319 my friend's all dressed in black and wore veils and stuff. 156 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:11.639 For the curious, you can head to Instagram and look 157 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:15.480 up the hashtag rip rang mantis. She's gone, but she's 158 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.399 not forgotten. Well, she's not really gone either. I guess 159 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:21.800 I still have her in a little box. But yeah, 160 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.800 shere's my buddy I'm missing. But yeah, why mantids. 161 00:08:25.399 --> 00:08:27.160 I think your story is a good example. I think 162 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:30.199 they're just really charismatic. I mean, even for in sex 163 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:33.120 in general. I like, it's hard for me to pick 164 00:08:33.159 --> 00:08:35.440 a specific thing because people always ask me this, why 165 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:37.960 do you like mantas' so much? And I think there's 166 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:39.600 a lot of things that they do that I think 167 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:43.720 people don't really realize that they do, from mating displays 168 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.559 to maternal care. And we can talk more about that later, 169 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.000 but I think part of in keeping them, I've gotten 170 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:52.000 to see some of this stuff and it's really been like, 171 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:54.039 oh wow, that's another thing that I like. That's another 172 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:56.080 thing that I like. I think the thing that really 173 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:58.360 got me into Mantus's in the first place is probably 174 00:08:58.360 --> 00:08:59.759 a thing that a lot of people think is cool 175 00:08:59.799 --> 00:09:04.159 about them as they're hunting. I've probably watched in my 176 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:07.600 lifetime now like hundreds and thousands of strikes, and it's 177 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.200 still super exciting to watch it. Every time you give 178 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.799 them prey and then they go stock it and go 179 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:16.159 catch it. So I think definitely that got me into them. 180 00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:21.039 It's very exciting, like watching an apex predator take down 181 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:25.559 an antelope and you're like, that's horrifying, but it's all nature. 182 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:29.080 It's a circle of life. But like with a very 183 00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:32.480 small tiger and a maggot, I think, what do they 184 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:35.840 tend to eat? Do you feed them like mealworms and crickets? 185 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:41.159 I actually I feed them cockroaches blad alatter alice cockroaches. 186 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.519 They're great because they can't climb plastic, so it makes 187 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:46.879 it really easy to deal with them for feeding. So 188 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:49.080 I just tossed them in the container and they can't 189 00:09:49.200 --> 00:09:51.600 escape from the container that they're in because crickets jump 190 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.279 and they make noise. So I've kind of straight away 191 00:09:54.279 --> 00:09:56.960 from them over time. But in the wild fantasies eat 192 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.200 a lot of different stuff. I mean, you have species 193 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.279 that specialize is on nectar feeding and sex in general, 194 00:10:02.399 --> 00:10:05.039 like you know, the orchid mantis. Everyone knows super well, 195 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:05.840 well for the. 196 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:10.000 People whose algorithm is not filled with macro bug photography. 197 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:11.960 I don't know what your life is like, but an 198 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:16.279 orchid mantis is like a Barbie pink and white insects 199 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:18.279 about half the size of your thumb, and it does 200 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:23.480 an uncanny impression of a jungle blossom. But unlike an orchid, 201 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:24.840 they are thirsty for killing. 202 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.440 There's species that specialize on butterflies, so they sort of 203 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.679 have a pretty unique hunting strategy with them. There's ants specialists, 204 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:35.559 and then you have species that kind of are more 205 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:37.679 generalists and the like, you know, pretty much anything that 206 00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:41.559 they can really grab or get their raptorial fore legs around. 207 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:44.039 And some of the bigger species even eat vertebrates, So 208 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.000 I mean they're all over the ecological chain. 209 00:10:48.440 --> 00:10:50.519 I don't understand how that's possible because there's I know, 210 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:53.639 there's a viral video that's gone around or of a 211 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:58.240 mantis catching and starting to eat a hummingbird, which is 212 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.799 like giant that's like, we have a sandwich is the 213 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:03.039 size of a car. Why would I need that much? 214 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:04.759 How do they do it? 215 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.759 The short answer is they're just very strong, and I 216 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:12.679 think they really rely on being able to surprise their 217 00:11:12.679 --> 00:11:16.879 prey because mantises are strong. But I think in a 218 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:19.320 straight up fight they really rely on being able to 219 00:11:19.320 --> 00:11:23.320 grab and lock down the insect or prey from it moving, 220 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:25.399 and then just getting a couple of good bites in 221 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:27.480 that can kind of subdue it for the most part, 222 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:29.240 because they have to start eating it while it's alive. 223 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.360 I don't have any venom or anything like that. So yeah, 224 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.120 they're a lot like big cats in that way. They 225 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.600 really just need the ambush to try and overpower their prey, 226 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.480 otherwise it'll potentially get away. 227 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:42.679 It's interesting to think of a mant to being like, Okay, 228 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:45.879 I'm stuffed, I'll move on. But then they don't know 229 00:11:46.039 --> 00:11:49.360 leftovers though, right they don't do leftovers. 230 00:11:49.279 --> 00:11:53.759 No, usually not. Mantises are pretty I'll say that they're picky. 231 00:11:54.039 --> 00:11:57.320 They really like the juicy bits of stuff, so they 232 00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:00.240 tend to leave little If it's like very like the 233 00:12:00.360 --> 00:12:03.080 ends of insect legs or wings, they really don't like those, 234 00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:05.559 so that the start them It's really funny because when 235 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.480 you watch them eat, like a fly or something. You'll 236 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.279 see them eat. They get to the wings and they 237 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:11.720 like take a couple of bites, They're like, h nah, 238 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:15.039 and then they just spit it out. Basically, I don't 239 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:17.399 like these So they can be a bit picky, but 240 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:19.039 real eat almost anything. 241 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:22.879 Legs just like pizza crusts, like. 242 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.600 Every Yeah, only the finest for them. They only like 243 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:27.080 the finest morsels of food. 244 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:31.759 How many mantids do you have? Do you keep? 245 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:36.200 Uh? Presently? I think the number is close to one hundred, 246 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:41.799 and just sort of fluctuates depending on how many nymphs 247 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.840 I end up having from eggs hatching or adults and 248 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:46.960 stuff like that. So it just varies. 249 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.360 Well, I guess we should or I should actually established 250 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:53.639 technically speaking, what is it manted. 251 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:57.679 Yeah, so there's roughly twenty five hundred currently described species. 252 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.919 They tend up triangular heads a couple of the features 253 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.639 of the group, or that they have a specialized cleaning 254 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:05.960 brush on their fore legs. So when you see mantiss 255 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:08.480 do that cat like cleaning motion, they actually have a 256 00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.039 brush there that's gathering off all the bits of dirt 257 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:13.879 and stuff from things they've eaten or collected just to 258 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:17.200 clean their heads off. So that's unique to mantus's. No 259 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:19.639 other insect has like a centralized brush like that just 260 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:21.759 for cleaning. Oh, just pretty cool. 261 00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:23.639 I needed to know what this was called because I 262 00:13:23.639 --> 00:13:26.679 hoped it was like a micro scruffle or like a 263 00:13:26.679 --> 00:13:29.399 little facy, scratchy sketch. But according to the twenty seventeen 264 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:34.200 study Manual of Praying Mantis Morphology, Nomenclature and Practices, it's 265 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:38.120 called a femoral brush and it's a small patch of 266 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:43.120 hair like projections on the front of the forelimb. And 267 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:44.279 I googled images. 268 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:45.039 I was like, what are we. 269 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.320 Talking here, and under my croscopy it looks like if 270 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.080 you had a goatee on your wrist and you used 271 00:13:52.120 --> 00:13:55.000 it to get croissant flakes off of your head. Ten 272 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:58.200 out of ten sexy. Speaking of baby making, they. 273 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:00.840 Tend to lay uthiki, or that's what we call their 274 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:04.919 egg cases. They're often foamy coverings to protect the eggs, 275 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.120 and those can be in a variety of different shapes. 276 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:09.519 There's some that look like cotton candy, there's some that 277 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:14.080 look like little galls, So super variable there, and they 278 00:14:14.120 --> 00:14:17.679 tend to have they have asymmetrical genitalia. I don't know 279 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:20.279 if people are interested in that. Tidmit that it's sort 280 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:21.240 of weird for insects. 281 00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.799 I mean, of course we always bug junk talk as 282 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:25.039 to walk. 283 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.840 Come here, DoD junk is great, it's weird. 284 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:31.000 That's like one of the ways you can tell a 285 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.440 male from a female, right is looking at the tip 286 00:14:33.480 --> 00:14:33.919 of their butt. 287 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.039 Mm hmm, yeah, that's it's a great way. Mantisters are 288 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.720 what we call like sexually dimorphic, right, So males often 289 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:44.879 are skinnier and they tend to have very long antennae, 290 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:48.360 bigger eyes for their head size, and the females and 291 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:49.840 then yeah, you can look at the end of their 292 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:52.279 abdomen until really easily because the females will have a 293 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.879 point which is their opa positor coming out the bottom, 294 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:57.399 and the males just have this cup like shape but 295 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:00.440 it's just modified in a different way to house the insect. 296 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:05.639 Junk is an what is a mantistick called what. 297 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:08.879 We'd call it the genitalia, But there's three main pieces 298 00:15:09.159 --> 00:15:15.200 or fallomere is what we call them in the mantis situation. 299 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:19.320 Yeah, no, need more info? So did me? 300 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:19.759 So? 301 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:22.720 I found the paper Functional Morphology of the Praying Mantis 302 00:15:22.840 --> 00:15:26.559 Male Genitalia, which starts with an absolute banger of an 303 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.320 opening sentence. The diversity of genitalia in the animal world 304 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:34.919 is difficult to overstate, indeed, and it continues to describe 305 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:40.039 that mantis copulation is divided into three phases. There's opening, anchoring, 306 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:46.399 and deposition essentially foreplay, the nasty, and the finish. And 307 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:51.440 the first stage involves opening the female subgenital plate and 308 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:55.720 the mantodiologists involved in the study observed multiple cases of 309 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:01.240 female cooperation or resistance, with one case of coercion by 310 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:03.720 the male, and once the loading dock is open, though 311 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:08.600 a clamp on the male's right fallomere maintains this tight 312 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.639 grasp on the ladies' privates and the paper delivers some 313 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:17.639 details of some quote rhythmic motions which stimulate the female 314 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:21.120 as well as the male, but also serve to remove 315 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.759 any rivals depositions. As long as they're in there, they're 316 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:26.240 just gonna clean up a bit. 317 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:26.799 Now. 318 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.240 Females have a tip at the end of their abdomen, 319 00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:33.039 and this is their digging and their egg laying poker. 320 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:37.440 It's called an ovipositor and in general, they have larger 321 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:41.080 bodies and a thicker, wider abdomen. That's how you can 322 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.080 spot them. They use that to carry all those little 323 00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:48.440 eggs to make more mantids or mantises. Okay, and mantis 324 00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:51.120 or mantid, what's the proper way. 325 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:53.840 Yeah, so this is a this is a good question. 326 00:16:54.639 --> 00:17:00.320 So mantids is historically correct. So mantis is as whole 327 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:03.320 used to be considered one family. So they're man today 328 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.839 within the order Dictioptera, but now Dictioptera is a super 329 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:14.359 order and Mantis's order Mantodia, their own order, and Man 330 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:17.279 today is still a valid family that refers to one 331 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:23.079 of the twenty seven recognized currently recognized families. So if 332 00:17:23.160 --> 00:17:26.039 you say mantids, people usually know that you're talking about mantises. 333 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:30.279 But in a taxonomic sense, mantises would be more correct 334 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:33.519 for the whole order, Mantids would be for the singular family. 335 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:35.920 If you're like, well, you lost me at all those words, 336 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:37.880 don't worry about it. There's not going to be a quiz. 337 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.240 Essentially, it's just gone back and forth with this huge 338 00:17:41.319 --> 00:17:46.000 update in twenty nineteen, and probably people have been in 339 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:49.920 a conference room crying and fighting about this but the 340 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:54.039 latest is that mantises, of which there are around twenty 341 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:58.759 five hundred recognized species, belong to the order Mantodia, and 342 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:03.640 mantids are in a family below that. So not all 343 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:11.160 mantises are mantids, but all mantids are mantises, and it's confusing. 344 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.920 Manted is now a more narrow group than mantises, even 345 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:15.240 though it. 346 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:16.240 Used to be kind of reversed. 347 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:20.480 So if you're feeling confused, you're an amazing company, even 348 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:25.880 among mantodiologists. Absolutely zero yelling at me about this is 349 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:29.279 going to be tolerated. Twenty five hundred species of mantises, 350 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:33.079 and they range from grassy greens to pink to brown, 351 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:37.680 with bodies that are spiky or leaflike. There are stick 352 00:18:37.720 --> 00:18:42.599 mantids with pointy heads, cobra mantises with one wide fin 353 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:45.920 on their shoulders behind their head. They're these cream colored 354 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:51.319 spiny flower mantises whose abdomens are spiked with these yellow points, 355 00:18:51.680 --> 00:18:54.160 and then when their wings are out, they look like 356 00:18:54.200 --> 00:18:57.319 they have two mustard colored owl eyes. There are other 357 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:02.319 mantids like stagmo mantis limp that might be opallescent or 358 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:06.200 look like a drab camo parka that your cousin would 359 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:10.359 wear on a deer hunt. There's this huge Devil's flower mantis, 360 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.000 which can be up to five inches in length. There 361 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:17.839 are ghostly white mantises, and even this gorgeous maybe my favorite. 362 00:19:17.880 --> 00:19:19.279 I don't know if I have a favorite, but maybe 363 00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:24.000 my favorite Metalli Takas splendidus, which lives underneath bark and 364 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:28.440 is this metallic green and blue color like a new car, 365 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:32.279 with brassy amber wings that look like they're made of copper. 366 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:38.519 So much diversity and yet so much similarity your academic 367 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:44.000 background or your hobbyist turned business background, Like, can you 368 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:45.880 tell me a little bit about how you narrowed your 369 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:49.160 focus to mantises and like where you're at with it. 370 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:53.240 Yeah, So, for the longest time, I actually wasn't even 371 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:56.720 thinking about doing academic research. I mean I came into 372 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.079 my undergrad not really sure exactly what I wanted to do. 373 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.400 I wanted to do some thing with life sciences. I 374 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.039 just always liked mantises and keeping them as a hobby, 375 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:06.759 and so in that sense, I was interested in them 376 00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:10.079 from a purely hobby perspective. I enjoyed like the raising 377 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:12.640 new species and sort of learning about them. In that sense. 378 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:15.559 And part of it also was my parents weren't really 379 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.680 at the time. They were like, oh, I don't know, 380 00:20:17.839 --> 00:20:20.680 like a career in insects, is that like early a thing? 381 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.200 And so they had like some skepticism. But then I 382 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:27.599 did my undergrad at UC Davis and I got to 383 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:29.799 be a part of the Beauhart Museum of Entomology, which 384 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:32.559 is really great, really great group of folks. And then 385 00:20:32.599 --> 00:20:35.440 through there I got really introduced to entomology as an 386 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:38.319 academic discipline, and so I learned about, you know, the 387 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.680 taxonomy of the different insect groups, had identified different insect groups, 388 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:43.880 and then it was kind of a lock and key situation. 389 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:47.559 I worked there for one summer and I was like, yeah, 390 00:20:47.559 --> 00:20:50.799 this is great. I really want to really want to 391 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:53.400 do this. And it was nice because in addition to 392 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:55.640 doing whatever I need to do for the museum, I 393 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.480 actually got to work on curating the mantis collection there 394 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.759 because it hadn't really been updated in thirty years forty 395 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.400 years or so, and so there's a lot of cool stuff. 396 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:06.839 Did you know there was a Beauheart Museum of Entomology 397 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.160 in Davis, California? Neither die because nobody told me. But 398 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:15.400 also it's not far from your grandpod's final resting place, 399 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:18.119 and perhaps a field trip is in order. So all 400 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:21.640 those in favor say, it's really just up to me. Okay, 401 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:24.480