Praying mantis attack a nest

Birds ceremony on bugs, not the other way around. But it is that role reversal that Mahmood Kolnegari of the Avaye Dornaye Khakestari Institute, in Iran, and Connor Panter of the University of Nottingham, in Britain, saw when they placed a camera near the nest of a purple sunbird, in the Kerman region. Iran. . As they report in Ecology and evolution, their camera captured footage of a praying mantis killing a nest and eating from it. Praying mantises are known for their aggression, but even so, the attack surprised the researchers. They assumed it was a strange incident until, a month later, they caught a second mantis killing and feeding on a nesting lark. Searching the literature to see if such predators had been noted before, they found one hundred-year-old report documenting a similar result. A more extensive internet search turned up two unscientific reports, from Taiwan and Brazil, of mantids eating nests. ■

Do you know about the world? To enjoy our mind-expanding science coverage, sign up to Simply Science, our weekly subscription-only newsletter.