Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Photo#296580
Life cycle of Mantispidae

Life cycle of Mantispidae
From Comstock, Introduction to Entomology, p. 290, fig. 326 (1). Original caption:
Fig. 326. Hypermetamorphosis of Mantispa (from Henneguy, after Brauer). Brauer obtained eggs from a female Mantispa kept in confinement. These eggs were rose-red in color, and fastened upon stalks, like the eggs of Chrysopa. The eggs were laid in July; and the larvae emerged 21 days later. The young larva (planidia) are campodeiform--Fig. 326, A; they are very agile creatures, with a long, slender body, well-developed legs, and long, slender antennae. They pass the winter without food. In the spring they find their way into the egg-sacs of the above-named spiders (Lycosidae). Here they feed upon the young spiders; and the body becomes proportionately thicker. Later the larva molts and undergoes a remarkable change in form, becoming what is known as the second larva; in this stage the larva is scarabaeiform (Fig. 326, B); the legs are much reduced in size; the antennae are short; and the head is very small. When fully grown this larva measures from 7 to 10 mm in length. It then spins a cocoon, and changes to a pupa within the skin of the larva. Later the larval skin is cast; and, finally, after being in the cocoon about a month, the pupa becomes active, pierces the cocoon and the egg-sac, and crawls about for a time (Fig. 326, C); later it changes to the adult form (Fig. 326, D).