Acontiothespis (Acontista) multicolor
family Acanthopidae Burmeister, 1838
Sub-family Acontiothespinae Hebard, 1924
genus Acontiothespis Rehn, 1916
species Acontiothespis multicolor (Saussure, 1870)
This species is originally from South America, a small but colorful mantis. I was given a few oothecae as gift from a friend from Hong
Kong. About half a dozen nymphs hatched from each ootheca soon, which resemble tiny black ants, and similar looking to the ant
mantis (Odontomantis sp.) hatchling. The newborn grew pretty fast with plenty of food and under 85F/50% with daily misting. Although
very small at birth, the hatchlings are not too shy away from fruit flies (wild D. melanogaster), making it easy to keep in captivity. The
hatchling should have no problem feeding on springtails too.
After couple of months, I realized all the nymphs matured into adult females which is odd. Then my friend told me the female which
produced the oothecae has not been mated before, which makes this species capable of reproducing asexually, a process called
parthenogenesis. I was wondering if this is just an odd case so I continue to keep the oothecae deposited by unmated females born
parthenogenetically. Recently few nymphs (2-4) emerged from separate oothecae produced by different adult females. So this species
appear to have the ability to produce fertilize ootheca without pairing up with male. That reminds me of the native Brunneria borealis
which is 100% parthenogenesis.
The newborn grew pretty fast with plenty of food and under 85F/50% with daily misting. Although very small at birth, the hatchlings are
not too shy away from fruit flies (wild D. melanogaster), making it easy to keep in captivity. The hatchling should have no problem
feeding on springtails too.
