CUTICULAR EXTRACTS OF 5 COMMON MANTIDS (MANTODEA, MANTIDAE) OF THE EASTERN UNITED-STATES

We undercook a preliminary investigation of the cuticular extracts of five common mantid species in the eastern United States: Tenodera sine nsis (Saussure), T. angustibennis (Saussure) and Mantis religiosa (Lin naeus) introduced from the Old World anc. Stagmomantis carolina (Johan nson) and Bruneria borealis (Scudder), which are New World species. Th e major components of these mixtures were normal alkanes, predominatel y hentriacontane, or in the case of the parthenogenic species B. borea lis, tritriacontane. Tricontanal was detected in the extracts of all f ive species, and smaller amounts of other aldehydes and n-tricontanol were detected in some species. Complex mixtures of methyl and dimethyl alkanes also were present in these extracts. The composition of the cu ticular hydrocarbons of these mantids may be an adaptation for reducti on of evaporative water loss in these insects that inhabit open fields . (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.