Many-to-one mapping in Mantodea: camouflage strategy and phylogeny drive strike variation in prey capture with raptorial forelegs.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of camouflage has led to many examples of organisms mimicking their environment to remain undetected or unseen. Camouflage likely results in strong selective pressures to resemble the environment as it increases Darwinian fitness in both predators and prey, having the potential to result in ecomorphs, which are morphologies that convergently evolve to function in specific environments. Whether the evolution of camouflage in ambush predators results in ecomorphs can be determined by examining the linear morphology and function of the raptorial forelegs among Mantodea (i.e. praying mantises), as the acquisition of food may vary based upon the microhabitat mimicked. We hypothesize that the evolution of camouflage constrains a species' diet based upon available prey in the habita

SUBMITTER: Garikipati L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12579948 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature