An overlooked structure: the praying mantid egg case and its functional diversity (Insecta: Mantodea)

Praying mantids (Order Mantodea), along with cockroaches (Blattaria) and termites (Isoptera) constitute the monophyletic superorder Dictyoptera. A well-established synapomorphy that defines the monophyly of Dictyoptera is the formation of an egg case or ootheca, a complex, protein-based structure that is formed during oviposition to provide mechanical support and protection to the eggs. Mantids lay their egg cases on different substrates among the vegetation and multiple selective pressure have lead to the evolution of a wide array of structural modifications. Such modifications presumably provide egg cases with cryptic attributes, dissimulating their presence within the vegetation and thus escaping predation. The morphological diversity exhibited by mantid egg cases is unique among the Dictyoptera and has seldom been documented in the literature. In this study we present novel data obtained from the analyses of 40 Neotropical mantid genera. Our preliminary observations suggest that the egg case has an enormous potential as a character for taxonomic and even phylogenetic studies and thus deserves further attention from mantid taxonomists.