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Sexual cannibalism is the predation of a prospective mate either before, during or after mating (Lawrence, 1992).

It occurs in many species of spiders as well as in scorpions, opisthobranchs, amphipods, coperpods, and in three insect orders, including several species of praying mantids. Some works have suggested adaptive explanations for sexual cannibalism, from both a female and male perspective. Females that cannibalize their mates may gain nutrients enabling them to increase the size and rate of Ootheca production, and therefore the total number of eggs they lay. For males, sexual cannibalism, may be an adaptive reproductive strategy when the chances of fertilizing more than one female are low and the nutrients gained by the female increase the number and/or quality of the eggs that the male has fertilized.“

{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK2Rk64wLms&t=73s} video of sexual cannabalism on praying mantids

By using ODE, models this systems dynamics, try to capture the principal mechanism behind this type of behaviour. Explore the model, and see what you gets when changing the parameters.

Decide which behaviour is more important and gives the correct dynamics or more realism to the model. Both behaviours could exists at the same time? If females becomes more and more aggressive, males will avoid more than one mating? Food availability necessary will turn female more deadly? After eating a male, a female wil turn more acceptive to mating other males?

* Lawrence, S. E. “Sexual cannibalism in the praying mantid, Mantis religiosa: a field study.” Animal Behaviour 43.4 (1992): 569-583.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347205810176

* Barry, Katherine L., Gregory I. Holwell, and Marie E. Herberstein. “Female praying mantids use sexual cannibalism as a foraging strategy to increase fecundity.” Behavioral Ecology 19.4 (2008): 710-715.https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/19/4/710/201821