Do headless males really make better lovers? Sexual cannibalism in Carolina mantids

Sexual cannibalism has been noted in several mantid species including the indigenous Arkansas species, Stagmomantis carolina.  Females commonly consume the heads of courting males; remarkably, the male is often still capable of attaching to the female. Whether these headless males can actually transfer sperm and fertilize eggs has not been determined for any mantid species.  We collected S. carolina egg masses from the Railroad Prairie Natural Area located near Hazen, AR. and reared 100 mantids to sexual maturity. We observed sexual encounters between randomly chosen pairs for ~ 24 hour periods. Males were cannibalized in 17 of 45 matings, but the male attached to the female in only one of these.  The male was successful in transferring a spermatophore to the female.  Females starved for longer periods more frequently cannibalized males. In addition, females generally consumed smaller males regardless of female size suggesting female choice based on male size.  In conclusion, sexual cannibalism was common in our lab-reared mantids, but cannibalized males were rarely successful mating.