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Predators must often employ flexible strategies to capture prey.
Particular attention has been given to the strategies of visual predators
that actively pursue their prey, but sit-and-wait predators have been
largely overlooked, their strategies often characterised as stereotyped.
Praying mantids are primarily sit-and-wait predators that often employ
crypsis to catch their prey using a raptorial strike produced by their
highly modified forelimbs. Here we show that the raptorial strike of the
Madagascan marbled mantis (Polyspilota aeruginosa) varies in duration from
60 to 290 ms due to the tibial extension alone; slower strikes involve
slower tibial extensions that may also be interrupted by a pause. The
success of a strike is independent of its duration or the presence of
these pauses. However, prey speed affects the duration of tibial extension
and the probability of a pause occurring, both increasing at slower prey
speeds. Adjusting the duration of the tibial extension according to prey
speed allows mantids to time the final downward sweep of the tibia to
their prey’s approach. The use of visual inputs to adjust the motor
pattern controlling forelimb movements shows that not all aspects of the
strike are stereotyped and that sit-and-wait predators can produce
behavioural flexibility.
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