Coloration in a Praying Mantis: Color Change, Sexual Color Dimorphism, and Possible Camouflage Strategies.

ABSTRACT: Background matching, an important form of camouflage, can be challenging for animals that range across heterogeneously colored habitats. To remain cryptic in such habitats, animals may employ color change, background choice, or generalist coloration, and the efficacy of these strategies may be influenced by an animal's mobility. We examined camouflage strategies in the praying mantis Stagmomantis limbata. We reared mantids in green or brown containers to test whether mantids change color over development to match their background. Additionally, we tested whether adult mantids (i) employ behavioral background choice, (ii) exhibit sexual color dimorphism, and (iii) differ in mobility in the field. Mantids changed color during development in response to their background, but the effect

SUBMITTER: Rosenheim LY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11705439 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature