Data from: Females prioritise foraging over mating and males prioritise mating over risk avoidance in virgin mantids
Data files
Jul 22, 2026 version files 11.03 KB
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README.md
3.48 KB
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Supplementary_Table_S1.csv
1.97 KB
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Supplementary_Table_S2.csv
1.86 KB
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Supplementary_Table_S3.csv
1.36 KB
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Supplementary_Table_S4.csv
1.33 KB
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Supplementary_Table_S5.csv
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Abstract
Motivational trade-offs between reproduction and survival in two sexes of praying mantids may influence the occurrence of sexual cannibalism, a behaviour in which one mate consumes the other before, during, or immediately after mating. By using virgin mantids, we tested whether sexual cannibalism emerges opportunistically from contrasting priorities between the sexes: females prioritising foraging over mating, and males prioritising mating over risk avoidance. Through behavioral assays, we found that female mantids preferred attacking prey rather than conspecific males and unlikely treated males as typical prey.
Meanwhile, males exposed to sex pheromones showed reduced predation on prey. They also exhibited lower vigilance in the presence of either visual or chemical cues of mating opportunities, even under potential predation risk. These findings suggest that sexual cannibalism in virgin animals might reflect opportunistic behavioural decisions affected by conflicting cues within each sex.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qv9s4mwvb
Description of the data and file structure
Files and variables
File: Supplementary_Table_S1.csv
Description: Raw data of prey preference (prey choices in the dual choice assay) of female mantids (Hierodula patellifera) between a common prey item (adult Hexacentrus unicolor) and a conspecific male, corresponding to Fig. 2a.
Variables:
- Event ID: individual identifier of each trial, coded as DC1-DC31
- Prey types: the two prey options presented simultaneously: Adult H. unicolor vs. Conspecific male
- Prey Choice: the prey type finally chosen and attacked by the female mantid, either "Adult H. unicolor" or "Conspecific male"
File: Supplementary_Table_S2.csv
Description: Attack durations (in seconds) of female mantids (Hierodula patellifera) toward two different prey types (Adult Hexacentrus unicolor and Male adult Hierodula patellifera) during the experimental period.
Variables:
- Event ID: individual identifier of each female mantid, coded as CP1-CP31 and MM1-MM17
- Prey type: the prey species presented to the female mantid)
- Attack duration (s): time from the female mantid's first approach to the first strike on the prey box
File: Supplementary_Table_S3.csv
Description: Raw data of individual predatory motivation (attack decisions toward 4 late-instar Tenebrio molitor larvae) of male mantids (Hierodula patellifera) in sex pheromone present and absent treatments, corresponding to Fig. 3a.
Variables:
- Event ID: individual identifier of each trial, coded as PP1-PP40 for the pheromone-present treatment and PA1-PA40 for the pheromone-absent treatment
- Sex Pheromone: the treatment condition, "present" or "absent"
- Attack: whether the male mantid attacked the prey, "yes" or "no"
File: Supplementary_Table_S4.csv
Description: Raw data of vigilance (fleeing when encountering a dummy female mantid) of male mantids (Hierodula patellifera) in sex pheromone present and absent treatments, corresponding to Fig. 3b.
Variables:
- Event ID: individual identifier of each trial, coded as MP1-MP40 for the pheromone-present treatment and MA1-MA40 for the pheromone-absent treatment)
- Sex Pheromone: the treatment condition, "present" or "absent"; 40 trials each
- Flee: whether the male mantid fled upon encountering the dummy female, "yes" or "no"
File: Supplementary_Table_S5.csv
Description:=Raw data of vigilance (fleeing when encountering a toy bird predator) of male mantids (Hierodula patellifera) in sex pheromone present and absent treatments, corresponding to Fig. 3c.
Variables:
- Event ID: individual identifier of each trial, coded as BP1-BP30 for the pheromone-present treatment and BA1-BA30 for the pheromone-absent treatment
- Sex Pheromone: the treatment condition, "present" or "absent"; 30 trials each
- Flee: whether the male mantid fled upon encountering the toy bird predator, "yes" or "no"
Code/software
No specific code was used to generate this data. Data was entered and organized in Excel.
Access information
Other publicly accessible locations of the data:
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Data was derived from the following sources:
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