Statilia maculata(Thunberg, 1784) – the first invasive praying mantis (Mantodea, Mantidae) in the fauna of Russia

Analysis of potential niche shifts in alien pairs of mantis species (Insecta, Mantodea) with comments on the current taxonomic and ecological knowledge

“…Another issue is the lack of information on mantis ecology. Specifically, although several mantises have been called "invasive" in some studies (e.g., Snyder and Evans 2006, Crowder and Snyder 2010, Fea et al 2013, Battiston et al 2018, Schwarz and Ehrmann 2018, Moulin 2020, Shcherbakov and Govorov 2020, Moulin and Rouard 2023, Pintilioaie et al 2023, no Mantodea species is currently present in the Global Invasive Species Database (GSID) made by the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) of IUCN (GISD 2023). IUCN defines species as invasive if they are "negatively impacting native biodiversity, ecosystem services or human economy and well-being" (IUCN 2023).…”

“…Although it is known that several mantises are now present in regions outside their known native ranges (e.g., Fea et al 2013, Battiston et al 2017, 2020, Schwarz and Ermann 2018, Anderson 2019, Shcherbakov and Govorov 2020, 2021, Connors et al 2022, Martinović et al 2022, to the best of my knowledge, it has never been analyzed if their alien niches are similar to their native ones or if these niches have shifted. Generally, such analyses are based on the centroid shift, overlap, unfilling, and expansion (COUE) scheme, which was first presented by Broennimann et al (2012) and later modified by Petitpierre et al (2012) (Liu et al 2020).…”

The pet mantis market: a first overview on the praying mantis international trade (Insecta, Mantodea)

“…The release of exotic species into non-native habitats appears to be limited, and, at this time, the arrival of alien species is more likely to be caused by cargo or accidental transport of oothecae , Shcherbakov and Govorov 2020. However, voluntary pet release should be considered in future studies on the prevention of such spreading, especially related to more generalist and well-adapting species.…”

“…More significant is the case of Miomantis Saussure, 1870, an African mantis frequently bred commercially and privately, that was recently found in the wild with vital populations in Portugal (Marabuto 2014), USA (Anderson 2018), and New Zealand, where it is impacting the local species (Fea et al 2013). In the last few years, the mantis fauna of Europe have greatly increased; this increase has been hypothesized to be due to the diffusion of exotic species in nature and the resultant competition with native species , Schwarz and Ehrmann 2018, Shcherbakov and Govorov 2020. Their origin, whether from escaped/released pet breedings or from oothecae attached to trading goods, is still under debate, but each species probably has its own history.…”

Citizen scientists track a charismatic carnivore: Mapping the spread and impact of the South African Mantis (Miomantidae, Miomantis caffra) in Australia

“…Although praying mantises are comparatively rare among insect introductions (Nisip et al 2019), their large size and charismatic appearance means that they are frequently observed and photographed by citizen scientists, enabling novel introductions to be relatively well-documented (Schwarz and Ehrmann 2018, Battiston et al 2020, Moulin 2020. Mantodean introductions have significantly increased in the past decade (Shcherbakov and Govorov 2020), particularly in Europe (Marabuto 2014, Fernández and Santaeufemia 2016, Moulin 2020, Zlatkov et al 2020 where the situation has been further complicated by range expansions of native mantises (Schwarz and Ehrmann 2018). These introductions have likely been facilitated by the inadvertent transport of both mantises and oothecae via railways and other commercial routes (Battiston et al 2020), and it is expected that these will remain important introduction pathways into the future.…”