Mantid ootheca (Insecta: Mantodea: Hierodula) or a home for many arthropods?

This is the first discovery of nesting an ant queen in the mantid’s oothecae chamber. A total of 93 oothecae have been collected and dissected. After tearing the outer skin of the most oothecae apart (80 out of 93), a queen ant Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini) and her eggs were observed. All of these 80 oothecae were parasited by parasitoid wasp Podagrion pachymerum (Chalcidoidea: Toryminae). According to our observations, it was assumed that the ant, Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini), inhabited the oothecae of mantid, Hierodula tenuidentata (Mantidae: Paramantini), to get a ready nest and accessible food using parasitoid wasps. We observed a mixed-species aggregation of arthropods in most of the examined oothecae. The arthropods that were observed in most of the collected oothecae are listed below: An ant, Crematogaster inermis (Formicidae: Crematogastrini); a mimicking spider ant, Synageles persianus (Salticidae: Dendryphantini); a parasitoid, Podagrion pachymerum (Chalcidoidea: Toryminae); a pseudoscorpion species, Chernes sp. (Chernetidae: Chernetini); a thysanoptera species, Haplothrips sp. (Phlaeothripidae: Haplothripini) and a neuroptera species, Semidalis sp. (Coniopterygidae: Conwentziini).