I saw an article on a mantis encased in Amber that’s 30 million years old. assuming mantis reproduce once a year, this thing is like 30 million generations removed from a modern mantis. It might not even be able to reproduce with a modern mantis Even if it does look exactly the same.
I looked into humans as a comparison and even 10 million years ago, the modern human didn’t even exist. there’s a good chance we’re too separated from them to reproduce or even be considered the same species. so wouldn’t that also apply to this 30 million year old mantis.
In: Biology
The answer is yes, probably. There really isn’t a satisfactory common definition of what constitutes a “species”.
Used to be that the definition was based around reproductive compatibility and gene flow, but modern genomics showed that different “species” successfully mate all the time and produce viable offspring.
e.g. everything from a St Bernard down to a Chihuahua are the same “species” despite a 32-fold difference in average weight and lack of direct mating compatibility. Meanwhile wolves, coyotes and dogs are counted as three different species despite cross-breeding to the point that most modern coyotes are genetically a mix.
Most of the modern arbitrary distinctions are to benefit from environmental protections. Identifying 2400 individual “species” of Mantis eans more environmental protection than classifying them as a few dozen species with a broad range.
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