Female praying mantis are always bigger than the males almost two to three inches greater in length. The female mantis isn’t only bigger it is also comparatively aggressive. Even so, female praying mantis are more likely to demonstrate cannibalistic behavior than the males. Sometimes when they are too hungry they might eat the male either during or after mating. Therefore, males sometimes approach the female from behind to get away with their cannibalism. Female mantises are also revered by people in different cultures.
Female Praying Mantis Facts
The length of the female praying mantis is about 10 inches with the weight averaging 4 to 5 grams. They have set of seven sternites each of which is clearly visible. Just to let you sternites are the ventral portion or abdomen of arthropods.
While most females are largely recognized by their green color some however exhibit gray appearance such as the Carolina mantis. The green color provides them perfect camouflage against predators as they can afford to sit atop tall grass without being noticed.
Adult female Iris oratoria performs a bluffing threat display. Photographed in Kolymbia, Rhodes.
Female mantis do have wings but they can’t fly. Thus, it’s not up to them to look for males during mating season. Males typically fly and search the female by following pheromones that are released by the latter. It is also logical assume that females are relatively less mobile.
They will rear back with the forelegs in an attempt to thwart the predator with their mouths opened and so as the wings.
Adult females likely display a unique set of posture especially if they feel threatened. They will rear back with the forelegs in an attempt to thwart the predator with their mouths opened and so as the wings.
Depending on species, the female lays 20 to as many as 400 eggs. The eggs are laid in protective casing known as ootheca. They may lay eggs either directly on the plant or on the ground. Although the eggs are protected in a case they are eaten by a certain wasps.
Prominent among the female’s behavior is its cannibalism. It cannibalizes her mating partner and is most likely to choose smaller males. Since the female mates with multiple males the cannibalism behavior is something that they can’t avoid. Soon after copulation the female eats the male’s head first followed by its abdomen. Sometimes however they leave the dead male after beheading it.
Dickie, S. (1996) Parthenogenesis in mantids. Mantis Study Group Newsletter, 1: 5.
Bragg, P.E. (1996) Mantis, Mantid, Mantids, Mantises. Mantis Study Group Newsletter, 1:4.
Liske, E.; Davis, W. J. (1987). “Courtship and mating behaviour of the Chinese praying mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinenesis”. Animal Behaviour. 35: 1524–1537. doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(87)80024-6
Praying mantis isn’t a single species or a subspecies. The scientific name of a mantis is Mantodea. Mantis is a large group of insects that belong to the order Mantodea. The order Mantodea comprises as many as 2,400 species which indeed are divided into 430 genera. The praying mantis has a family name Mantidae. All the members of the family Mantidae are known as mantids. People usually call mantids as praying mantis largely because of its prayer-like posture. Europeans refer to these mantises as mantis religiosa but the European mantis is only one of many mantis species.
Praying Mantis Scientific Name – Lower Classifications of a Mantis
Mantis are pretty widespread all throughout the world occupying temperate and tropical habitats. Scientists have long discussed the systematics of praying mantis. Earlier scientists thought mantis to be one of the stick insects (Phasmatodea) one that belonged to the order Orthoptera. Later they placed termites, cockroaches, and mantis in the order Dictyoptera.
The earliest of the praying mantis’ fossils dates back to 135 million years ago. These fossils were found in Siberia. Most of the fossils are nymps, only a few adult fossils are found in rocks.
Hermann Burmeister, a German entomologist was the first person who coined the term mantodea the term that was derived from the Greek word means ‘Prophet’. The word mantis is a plural of ‘mantes’. Nonetheless, all members of the family Mantidae are known as mantids. The word PRAYING MANTIS is used to describe any species of the family Mantidae whether it’s a Chinese mantis or a European mantis.
Beier was one of the first persons who did the praying mantis’ classifications back in 1968. He classified the mantis into eight families. But Ehrmann in 2002 reclassified the species into 15 families. Currently, there are 15 recognized families of a praying mantis.
Mantis are the first cousins of cockroaches but they aren’t related to mantidflies. Mantidflies do possess raptorial forelegs but they do not belong to the same order as mantis do. Unlike mantis, mantdflies lack leathery forewings and their antennae are comparatively shorter too.
Praying Mantis Scientific Name and Classification – Video
No, not at all! Praying mantis are absolutely harmless to humans although they can have a nasty bite if provoked. As a matter of fact, mantises make pretty popular pets. They are the most famous pets of the insect world. In some countries, mantises are revered particularly for their praying posture. People of the southern Africa likely give mantises the status of god.
Are Praying Mantis Dangerous to Humans?
Praying mantis can be deadly for grasshoppers, crickets, spiders, or even hummingbirds but they don’t pose any threat to humans. Mantises can bite you that can cause a just a little pain. They mostly bite when you mishandle them else mantis do not look at humans as a potential threat. You can raise mantis in captivity but you’ve to breed them since mantises hardly live more than a year. Many people around the world breed mantis in captivity.
Is a Praying Mantis Poisonous?
Despite their somewhat intimidating appearance, these arachnids aren’t really venomous.
Despite their somewhat intimidating appearance, these arachnids aren’t really venomous. Praying mantis are closely related to cockroaches. People typically think of a mantis as dangerous because of mantis’ eating habits and predatory behavior it demonstrates against few arthropods. For instance, the female mantis eats her mating partner after copulation. The unusual behavior such as this isn’t really observed in other insects.
The Chinese praying mantis (Tenodera sinensis)—one of the strongest and probably the most widespread species of a praying mantis. It is endemic to Asia. Chinese mantis was first introduced in Philadelphia back in 1896, but the man did it accidentally. That is to say that the species wasn’t meant to thrive in Philadelphia but it probably did. Early scientists thought of Chinese mantis as a subspecies of Tenodera aridifolia e therefore they gave a taxonomical name of Tenoderaaridifoliasinensis. Currently however the Chinese mantis has earned the full status of a species with the scientific name of Tenodera sinensis.
Chinese Praying Mantis Facts – Description, Reproductive Biology, Behavior, Diet
Physical Characteristics
The Chinese mantis is primarily recognized by its brown slender body. The mantis is comparatively longer with the length reaching at 11 cm (4.3 in). Some of the species display green color.
It weighs up to 3 grams. The mantis rarely shows tan-color body.
Chinese mantises have 4-cm long wingspan.
As is typical of a mantis, the Chinese mantis can swivel its head 180 degrees. The intimidating eyes are rather prominent and their head is triangular in shape.
The female is bigger than the male. The female mantis can reach the length of 10 cm as against the male’s size of 7 cm.
Chinese mantises are probably the biggest of all North American mantises.
The front wings are all brown but the border is lined with green lateral stripes.
The Chinese mantis’ eyes aren’t exactly black they just appear to be one particularly in low light. The eyes are colorless one that matches the mantis’ head.
They will resemble Tenodera angustipennis and narrow-winged mantid in appearance. Both these species are found in the United States.
Chinese mantis has yellow legs.
Tenodera sinensis – Chinese Mantis
Geographic Distribution
Chinese mantis is known to occur in Japan, Thailand, China, and Korean Peninsula.
The ideal temperature of their habitat is around 20 to 38°C.
The mantis is widespread all throughout the eastern United States as well as California.
Chinese mantises have also been introduced in Australia.
They are found in the Nearctic and Oriental regions.
Chinese Mantis Habitat
Chinese mantis is most likely to make homes in temperate habitats. The mantis’ habitat includes meadows, woodlands, grasslands, agricultural fields, streams, and rivers.
The mantis likely lives in woody shrubs and herbaceous plants although it does spend time in flowers too.
What Do Chinese Praying Mantis Eat – Diet
The Chinese praying mantis should have been referred to as a preying mantis (perhaps wrongfully) for it isn’t only highly aggressive, it’s also opportunistic. It can consume literally any insect that is about the size of a bug.
The Chinese mantis’ diet essentially consists of butterflies, spiders, cockroaches, grasshoppers, moths, and crickets.
Before reaching adulthood, the mantis will rely on small flies such as Drosophila melanogaster. The adult mantis will however feed on small crickets, blue bottle flies, house flies, and other flying insects.
Chinese are known to drink dew from the leaves therefore if you plan to raise them in captivity you must spray at least couple of times a day. The evening showers are probably necessary for them to thrive.
Behavior of a Praying Mantis
Chinese praying mantises are formidable predators in that they rely on vision to take on their prey. They will also use olfaction to search some other prey.
They are sit-and-wait predators just like owls. Mantis waits patiently on top of tall grasses to have a good view of the surroundings. As the prey gets within the striking distance the mantis grabs it using its folded arms.
Chinese mantises are flightless insects except for the males that do know how to fly. Females do possess wings but they are completely flightless.
They are highly active during the daylight hours.
The Chinese mantis will establish a small territory of 4 sq. km.
Chinese Praying Mantis Growth
The first instar nymph doesn’t only have a slow growth—it’s also smaller in size in comparison to the second instar. The second instar eats more than the first.
Chinese mantis undergoes a complete metamorphosis—from an egg to the larva to adult. The mantis larva is known as
Like cockroaches, praying mantis lays eggs in a protective casing known as
The female has a pair of reproductive glands that produces the protective material of ootheca.
Since the mantis becomes all dormant in winter, the eggs must develop immediately after oviposition. During spring the Chinese mantis eggs hatch. The hatching period is about 45 days.
Nymphs transform into an instar six to seven times before finally reaching adulthood. The nymphs develop their wings before they become adults.
Chinese praying mantis is eating a cricket.
Reproductive Biology of a Chinese Praying Mantis
The male will probably mate with the different females and vice versa. That is to say that the ootheca has more than one parent.
Although the female fertilizes with multiple males she produces only one ootheca.
Male Chinese mantis can fly but females can’t. Thus the male has to do all the hard work of looking for their mating partner. The female releases pheromones that are sensed by the male from as long a distance as 100 miles. Male mantises ought to take a long flight.
Males are more likely to attract to virgin females. In order to tempt males the female flexes its abdomen one that exposes its glands.
Most of the times males go after the females either from behind or from the front. Females do not usually approach the male although they sometimes do.
The female is most likely to eat the male sometimes during mating but mostly after copulation. But it happens typically when the female is too hungry and the prey is short. The female beheads its mating partner demonstrating absolute cannibalism.
Sometimes males do know that they might get eaten by the female thus they can approach the female rather gradually from behind. Even so, males fancy choosing females that aren’t starving so they don’t become their prey.
Males attain maturity at 180 days age.
The breeding season ranges from late summer to early winter.
The female produces 50 to as many as 600 eggs after a gestation period of 60 days. She will lay around 100 eggs in a single season.
Chinese Praying Mantis – Video
Life Expectancy
Chinese mantis has a fairly longer lifespan. They are thought to live 6 to 8 months in the natural habitat.
They have varied lifespans primarily because the external environment plays a key role in determining the life expectancy.
The adult mantis often dies in starvation.
Predators of a Chinese Mantis
Chinese mantises have quite a few predators in the wild. Prominent among their predators are Asian giant hornet, birds, primates, and other big praying mantises. Sometimes however one of the predators (hornet) becomes their prey.
Watanabe, E., T. Adachi-Hagimori, K. Miura, M. Maxwell, Y. Ando, Y. Takematsu. 2011. Multiple Paternity Within Field-Collected Egg Cases of the Praying Mantid Tenodera aridifolia. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 104/2: 348-352.
Lelito, J., W. Brown. 2008. Mate attraction by females in a sexually cannibalistic praying mantis. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 63/2: 313-320.
Mazer, C. 2004. Chinese Mantid. Pp. 185-186 in M Hutchins, A Evans, J Jackson, D Kleiman, J Murphy, D Thony, eds. Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 2 Edition. Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
Balderrama, N., H. Maldonado. 1971. Habituation of deimatic response in the mantid (Stagmatoptera biocellata). Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 75: 98-106.
There are hundreds of different mantis species distributed all across the globe. Each of these species has its own life cycle and lifespan. The smaller praying mantis lives around one or two months while the bigger individuals can live as long as four to six months, still a few may survive up to 360 days. The one-year-lifespan in mantises is probably too rare.
Praying Mantis Lifespan – How Long Do Praying Mantis Live?
There are several factors that play a key role in determining the overall life expectancy of a praying mantis. For instance, the availability and the quality of food largely affect the growth rate of a mantis. The greater is the food the greater is the lifespan of a mantis. By food we mean the primary diet of a mantis i.e. arthropods. Most praying mantises can survive up to 8 weeks but there are certain species that hardly survive a month.
Giant Asian praying mantis has an estimated lifespan of about 18 to 24 months.
Giant Asian praying mantis has an estimated lifespan of about 18 to 24 months. All throughout the life mantis sheds its skin and undergo numerous mini metamorphoses. Thus the minimum lifespan of a praying mantis is one month while the maximum is about one year but very few mantises are fortunate enough to live that much time—not even the bigger species.
Praying Mantis Lifespan – How Long Do Praying Mantis Live?
