Mantises are an
order (Mantodea) of
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...
s that contains
over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the
Mantidae
Mantidae is one of the largest families in the order of praying mantises, based on the type species '' Mantis religiosa''; however, most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family in the order, and many references ...
("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...
and
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.
The closest relatives of mantises are
termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...
s and
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...
es (
Blattodea
Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically ...
), which are all within the
superorder Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera (from Greek δίκτυον ''diktyon'' "net" and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing") is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea (termites and cockroaches together) and the o ...
. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects (
Phasmatodea), other elongated insects such as
grasshoppers (
Orthoptera), or other more distantly related insects with
raptorial
The term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the o ...
forelegs such as mantisflies (
Mantispidae
Mantispidae, known commonly as mantidflies, mantispids, mantid lacewings, mantisflies or mantis-flies, is a family of small to moderate-sized insects in the order Neuroptera. There are many genera with around 400 species worldwide, especially in ...
). Mantises are mostly
ambush predator
Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey ...
s, but a few ground-dwelling species are found actively pursuing their prey. They normally live for about a year. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in autumn, then die. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the spring. Females sometimes practice
sexual cannibalism
Sexual cannibalism is when an animal, usually the female, cannibalizes its mate prior to, during, or after copulation.Polis, G.A. & Farley, R.D. Behavior and Ecology of Mating in the journal of Arachnology 33-46 (1979). It is a trait observed in ...
, eating their mates after copulation.
Mantises were considered to have
supernatural powers by early civilizations, including
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
,
Ancient Egypt, and
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
. A cultural
trope popular in
cartoons imagines the female mantis as a ''
femme fatale''. Mantises are among the insects most commonly kept as
pet
A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence ...
s.
Taxonomy and evolution
![Mantis at Marrickville](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Mantis_at_Marrickville.jpg)
Over 2,400 species of mantis in about 430 genera are recognized. They are predominantly found in tropical regions, but some live in temperate areas.
The
systematics of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with stick insects (
Phasmatodea), were once placed in the order
Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now
Blattodea
Blattodea is an order of insects that contains cockroaches and termites. Formerly, termites were considered a separate order, Isoptera, but genetic and molecular evidence suggests they evolved from within the cockroach lineage, cladistically ...
) and ice crawlers (now
Grylloblattodea
Grylloblattidae, commonly known as the icebugs, or ice crawlers, is a family of extremophile (psychrophile) and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains and the edges of glaciers. They belong, along with Mantophasmatidae (rock c ...
). Kristensen (1991) combined the Mantodea with the cockroaches and
termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blatto ...
s into the order
Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera (from Greek δίκτυον ''diktyon'' "net" and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing") is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea (termites and cockroaches together) and the o ...
, suborder Mantodea.
The name ''mantodea'' is formed from the Ancient Greek words (''mantis'') meaning "prophet", and (''eidos'') meaning "form" or "type". It was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist
Hermann Burmeister
Karl Hermann Konrad Burmeister (also known as Carlos Germán Conrado Burmeister) (15 January 1807 – 2 May 1892) was a German Argentine zoologist, entomologist, herpetologist, botanist, and coleopterologist. He served as a professor at the Uni ...
.
The order is occasionally called the mantes, using a Latinized plural of Greek ''mantis''. The name mantid properly refers only to members of the family
Mantidae
Mantidae is one of the largest families in the order of praying mantises, based on the type species '' Mantis religiosa''; however, most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family in the order, and many references ...
, which was, historically, the only family in the order. The other common name, praying mantis, applied to any species in the order (though in Europe mainly to ''
Mantis religiosa
The European mantis (''Mantis religiosa'') is a large hemimetabolic insect in the family of the Mantidae ('mantids'), which is the largest family of the order Mantodea (mantises). Their common name praying mantis is derived from the distinctive ...
''), comes from the typical "
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
-like" posture with folded forelimbs.
The vernacular plural "mantises" (used in this article) was confined largely to the US, with "mantids" predominantly used as the plural in the UK and elsewhere, until the family Mantidae was further split in 2002.
[Ehrmann, R. 2002. Mantodea: Gottesanbeterinnen der Welt. Natur und Tier, Münster.]
One of the earliest classifications splitting an all-inclusive Mantidae into multiple families was that proposed by Beier in 1968, recognizing eight families,
though it was not until Ehrmann's reclassification into 15 families in 2002
that a multiple-family classification became universally adopted. Klass, in 1997, studied the external male genitalia and postulated that the families
Chaeteessidae and
Metallyticidae diverged from the other families at an early date.
However, as previously configured, the
Mantidae
Mantidae is one of the largest families in the order of praying mantises, based on the type species '' Mantis religiosa''; however, most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family in the order, and many references ...
and
Thespidae especially were considered
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...
,
so the Mantodea have been revised substantially as of 2019 and now includes 29 families.
[Schwarz CJ, Roy R (2019) The systematics of Mantodea revisited: an updated classification incorporating multiple data sources (Insecta: Dictyoptera) ''Annales de la Société entomologique de France (N.S.) International Journal of Entomology'' 55 [2]: 101–196.](_blank)
/ref>
Fossil mantises
The earliest mantis fossils are about 140 million years old, from Siberia. Fossils of the group are rare: by 2022, 37 fossil species are known. Fossil mantises, including one from Japan with spines on the front legs as in modern mantises, have been found in Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...
amber. Most fossils in amber are nymphs; compression fossils (in rock) include adults. Fossil mantises from the Crato Formation
The Crato Formation is a geologic formation of Early Cretaceous (Aptian) age in northeastern Brazil's Araripe Basin. It is an important Lagerstätte (undisturbed fossil accumulation) for palaeontologists. The strata were laid down mostly during ...
in Brazil include the long '' Santanmantis axelrodi'', described in 2003; as in modern mantises, the front legs were adapted for catching prey. Well-preserved specimens yield details as small as 5 μm through X-ray computed tomography
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 ...
. Extinct families and genera include:
* † Baissomantidae
* † Gryllomantidae
* † Cretomantidae
* † Santanmantidae
* † Amelidae
* ''Incertae sedis
' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...
'':
** †'' Jersimantis''
** †'' Chaeteessites''
** †'' Cretophotina''
** †'' Ambermantis''
Similar insects in the Neuroptera
Because of the superficially similar raptorial
The term ''raptorial'' implies much the same as ''predatory'' but most often refers to modifications of an arthropod's foreleg that make it function for the grasping of prey while it is consumed, where the gripping surfaces are formed from the o ...
forelegs
A forelimb or front limb is one of the paired articulated appendages (limbs) attached on the cranial (anterior) end of a terrestrial tetrapod vertebrate's torso. With reference to quadrupeds, the term foreleg or front leg is often used instead. ...
, mantidflies may be confused with mantises, though they are unrelated. Their similarity is an example of convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last com ...
; mantidflies do not have tegmina
A tegmen (plural: ''tegmina'') designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera ( earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick an ...
(leathery forewings) like mantises, their antennae are shorter and less thread-like, and the raptorial tibia
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
is more muscular than that of a similar-sized mantis and bends back farther in preparation for shooting out to grasp prey. Another example of confusion caused by convergent evolution is Titanoptera
Titanoptera is an extinct order of neopteran insects from late Carboniferous to Triassic periods. Titanopterans were very large in comparison with modern insects, some having wingspans of up to or even .
Description
Titanopterans are related ...
, an order of insect that lived in the Triassic period and also shared the Raptorial forelegs of a mantis.
Biology
Anatomy
Mantises have large, triangular heads with a beak-like snout and mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bone ...
s. They have two bulbous compound eyes
A compound eye is a visual organ found in arthropods such as insects and crustaceans. It may consist of thousands of ommatidia, which are tiny independent photoreception units that consist of a cornea, lens, and photoreceptor cells which distin ...
, three small simple eyes, and a pair of antennae. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible; some species of mantis can rotate their heads nearly 180°.
The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum ( dorsal), the prosternum ( ventral), and the propleuron ( lateral) o ...
, a mesothorax
The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...
, and a metathorax
The metathorax is the posterior of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the third pair of legs. Its principal sclerites ( exoskeletal plates) are the metanotum (dorsal), the metasternum (ventral), and the metapleuron (lateral) ...
. In all species apart from the genus '' Mantoida'', the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movements of the head and fore limbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile. Mantises also are unique to the Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera (from Greek δίκτυον ''diktyon'' "net" and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing") is an insect superorder that includes two extant orders of polyneopterous insects: the order Blattodea (termites and cockroaches together) and the o ...
in that they have tympanate hearing, with two tympana in an auditory chamber in their metathorax. Most mantises can only hear ultrasound
Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hear it. This limit varies ...
.
Mantises have two spiked, grasping forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. In most insect legs, including the posterior four legs of a mantis, the coxa and trochanter
A trochanter is a tubercle of the femur near its joint with the hip bone. In humans and most mammals, the trochanters serve as important muscle attachment sites. Humans are known to have three trochanters, though the anatomic "normal" includes ...
combine as an inconspicuous base of the leg; in the raptorial legs, however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the femur
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates wit ...
, which is a spiky part of the grasping apparatus (see illustration). Located at the base of the femur is a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number, but ranging from none to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus used as a walking appendage, made of four or five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium The arthropod leg is a form of jointed appendage of arthropods, usually used for walking. Many of the terms used for arthropod leg segments (called podomeres) are of Latin origin, and may be confused with terms for bones: ''coxa'' (meaning hip, pl ...
.
Mantises can be loosely categorized as being macropterous (long-winged), brachypterous (short-winged), micropterous (vestigial-winged), or apterous (wingless). If not wingless, a mantis has two sets of wings: the outer wings, or tegmina
A tegmen (plural: ''tegmina'') designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera ( earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick an ...
, are usually narrow and leathery. They function as camouflage and as a shield for the hindwings, which are clearer and more delicate.
The abdomen of all mantises consists of 10 tergites
A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...
, with a corresponding set of nine sternites
The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen.
In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the ...
visible in males and seven visible in females. The abdomen tends to be slimmer in males than females, but ends in a pair of cerci in both sexes.
Vision
Mantises have stereo vision
Stereopsis () is the component of depth perception retrieved through binocular vision.
Stereopsis is not the only contributor to depth perception, but it is a major one. Binocular vision happens because each eye receives a different image becaus ...
. They locate their prey by sight; their compound eyes contain up to 10,000 ommatidia
The compound eyes of arthropods like insects, crustaceans and millipedes are composed of units called ommatidia (singular: ommatidium). An ommatidium contains a cluster of photoreceptor cells surrounded by support cells and pigment cells. The ...
. A small area at the front called the fovea has greater visual acuity than the rest of the eye, and can produce the high resolution necessary to examine potential prey. The peripheral ommatidia are concerned with perceiving motion; when a moving object is noticed, the head is rapidly rotated to bring the object into the visual field of the fovea. Further motions of the prey are then tracked by movements of the mantis's head so as to keep the image centered on the fovea. The eyes are widely spaced and laterally situated, affording a wide binocular field of vision and precise stereoscopic vision at close range. The dark spot on each eye that moves as it rotates its head is a pseudopupil
In the compound eye of invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans, the pseudopupil appears as a dark spot which moves across the eye as the animal is rotated. This occurs because the ommatidia that one observes "head-on" (along their optic ...
. This occurs because the ommatidia that are viewed "head-on" absorb the incident light
In optics a ray is an idealized geometrical model of light, obtained by choosing a curve that is perpendicular to the ''wavefronts'' of the actual light, and that points in the direction of energy flow. Rays are used to model the propagation o ...
, while those to the side reflect it.
As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantises are primarily diurnal. Many species, however, fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Mantises in the family Liturgusidae collected at night have been shown to be predominately males; this is probably true for most mantises. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in locating less-mobile females by detecting their pheromone
A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...
s. Flying at night exposes mantises to fewer bird predators than diurnal flight would. Many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that helps them avoid bats by detecting their echolocation calls and responding evasively.
Diet and hunting
Mantises are generalist predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s of arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
s. The majority of mantises are ambush predator
Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture or trap prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey ...
s that only feed upon live prey within their reach. They either camouflage themselves and remain stationary, waiting for prey to approach, or stalk their prey with slow, stealthy movements. Larger mantises sometimes eat smaller individuals of their own species, as well as small vertebrates such as lizards, frogs, fish, and particularly small birds.
Most mantises stalk tempting prey if it strays close enough, and will go further when they are especially hungry. Once within reach, mantises strike rapidly to grasp the prey with their spiked raptorial forelegs. Some ground and bark species pursue their prey in a more active way. For example, members of a few genera such as the ground mantises, ''Entella'', ''Ligaria'', and ''Ligariella'' run over dry ground seeking prey, much as tiger beetle
Tiger beetles are a family of beetles, Cicindelidae, known for their aggressive predatory habits and running speed. The fastest known species of tiger beetle, ''Rivacindela hudsoni'', can run at a speed of , or about 125 body lengths per second. ...
s do.
The fore gut of some species extends the whole length of the insect and can be used to store prey for digestion later. This may be advantageous in an insect that feeds intermittently. Chinese mantises live longer, grow faster, and produce more young when they are able to eat pollen.
Antipredator adaptations
Mantises are preyed on by vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, and birds, and by invertebrates such as spiders, large species of hornets, and ants. Some hunting wasps, such as some species of '' Tachytes'' also paralyze some species of mantis to feed their young. Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage, most species being cryptically colored to resemble foliage
A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, s ...
or other backgrounds, both to avoid predators and to better snare their prey. Those that live on uniformly colored surfaces such as bare earth or tree bark are dorsoventrally flattened so as to eliminate shadows that might reveal their presence. The species from different families called flower mantis
Flower mantises are praying mantis species that use a special form of camouflage referred to as aggressive mimicry, which they not only use to attract prey, but avoid predators as well. These insects have specific colorations and behaviors that ...
es are aggressive mimics: they resemble flowers convincingly enough to attract prey that come to collect pollen and nectar. Some species in Africa and Australia are able to turn black after a molt towards the end of the dry season; at this time of year, bush fires occur and this coloration enables them to blend in with the fire-ravaged landscape ( fire melanism).
When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. The fanning of the wings makes the mantis seem larger and more threatening, with some species enhancing this effect with bright colors and patterns on their hindwings and inner surfaces of their front legs. If harassment persists, a mantis may strike with its forelegs and attempt to pinch or bite. As part of the bluffing ( deimatic) threat display
Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey anima ...
, some species may also produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal spiracles. Mantises lack chemical protection, so their displays are largely bluff. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sounds produced by bats; when the frequency begins to increase rapidly, indicating an approaching bat, they stop flying horizontally and begin a descending spiral toward the safety of the ground, often preceded by an aerial loop or spin. If caught, they may slash captors with their raptorial legs.
Mantises, like stick insects, show rocking behavior in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behavior include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However, the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of animals with simpler sight systems. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field. As ants may be predators of mantises, genera such as '' Loxomantis'', '' Orthodera'', and '' Statilia'', like many other arthropods, avoid attacking them. Exploiting this behavior, a variety of arthropods, including some early-instar mantises, mimic ants to evade their predators.
Choeradodis stalii MHNT dos.jpg, Leaf mimicry: ''Choeradodis
''Choeradodis'' is a genus of praying mantises with common names such as shield mantis, hood mantis (or hooded mantis), and leaf mantis (or leafy mantis) because of their extended, leaf-like thoraces. '' has leaf-like forewings and a widened green thorax
The thorax or chest is a part of the anatomy of humans, mammals, and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main divisions of the cre ...
.
Gottesanbeterin Abwehr.JPG, Adult female '' Iris oratoria'' performs a bluffing threat display
Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey anima ...
, rearing back with the forelegs and wings spread and mouth opened.
Gemmatus.jpg, The jeweled flower mantis, ''Creobroter gemmatus
''Creobroter gemmatus'', common name jeweled flower mantis, is a species of praying mantis native to Asia.
Description
Males grow to about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) and females are slightly larger. They prefer a humid environment and live about ...
'': the brightly colored wings are opened suddenly in a deimatic display
Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey anim ...
to startle predators.
Ant-Mantis.jpg, Some mantis nymphs
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...
mimic ants to avoid predators.
Reproduction and life history
The mating season in temperate climates typically takes place in autumn, while in tropical areas, mating can occur at any time of the year. To mate following courtship, the male usually leaps onto the female's back, clasping her thorax and wing bases with his forelegs. He then arches his abdomen to deposit and store sperm in a special chamber near the tip of the female's abdomen. The female lays between 10 and 400 eggs, depending on the species. Eggs are typically deposited in a froth mass-produced by glands in the abdomen. This froth hardens, creating a protective capsule, which together with the egg mass is called an ootheca
An ootheca (pl. ''oothecae'' ) is a type of egg mass made by any member of a variety of species including mollusks (such as ''Turbinella laevigata''), mantises, and cockroaches.
The word is a Latinized combination of ''oo-'', meaning "egg", f ...
. Depending on the species, the ootheca can be attached to a flat surface, wrapped around a plant, or even deposited in the ground. Despite the versatility and durability of the eggs, they are often preyed on, especially by several species of parasitoid wasp
Parasitoid wasps are a large group of hymenopteran superfamilies, with all but the wood wasps (Orussoidea) being in the wasp-waisted Apocrita. As parasitoids, they lay their eggs on or in the bodies of other arthropods, sooner or later causin ...
s. In a few species, mostly ground and bark mantises in the family Tarachodidae
Tarachodidae is a now obsolete family in the order Mantodea, of genera found in Africa and Asia.
Former subfamilies
The family previously consisted of two subfamilies of "bark mantises": Caliridinae
These genera have now been moved to the new fa ...
, the mother guards the eggs. The cryptic '' Tarachodes maurus'' positions herself on bark with her abdomen covering her egg capsule, ambushing passing prey and moving very little until the eggs hatch. An unusual reproductive strategy is adopted by Brunner's stick mantis from the southern United States; no males have ever been found in this species, and the females breed parthenogenetically. The ability to reproduce by parthenogenesis has been recorded in at least two other species, '' Sphodromantis viridis'' and ''Miomantis'' sp., although these species usually reproduce sexually. In temperate climates, adults do not survive the winter and the eggs undergo a diapause
In animal dormancy, diapause is the delay in development in response to regular and recurring periods of adverse environmental conditions.Tauber, M.J., Tauber, C.A., Masaki, S. (1986) ''Seasonal Adaptations of Insects''. Oxford University Press I ...
, hatching in the spring.
As in closely related insect groups in the superorder Dictyoptera, mantises go through three life stages: egg, nymph, and adult (mantises are among the hemimetabolous
Hemimetabolism or hemimetaboly, also called incomplete metamorphosis and paurometabolism,McGavin, George C. ''Essential Entomology: An Order-by-Order Introduction''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. pp. 20. is the mode of development of certa ...
insects). For smaller species, the eggs may hatch in 3–4 weeks as opposed to 4–6 weeks for larger species. The nymphs may be colored differently from the adult, and the early stages are often mimics of ants. A mantis nymph grows bigger as it molts its exoskeleton
An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...
. Molting can happen five to 10 times before the adult stage is reached, depending on the species. After the final molt, most species have wings, though some species remain wingless or brachypterous ("short-winged"), particularly in the female sex. The lifespan of a mantis depends on the species; smaller ones may live 4–8 weeks, while larger species may live 4–6 months.
File:Mantis religiosa couple.JPG, ''Mantis religiosa
The European mantis (''Mantis religiosa'') is a large hemimetabolic insect in the family of the Mantidae ('mantids'), which is the largest family of the order Mantodea (mantises). Their common name praying mantis is derived from the distinctive ...
'' mating (brown male, green female)
File:Mantis laying ootheca.jpg, '' Stagmomantis carolina'' laying ootheca
An ootheca (pl. ''oothecae'' ) is a type of egg mass made by any member of a variety of species including mollusks (such as ''Turbinella laevigata''), mantises, and cockroaches.
The word is a Latinized combination of ''oo-'', meaning "egg", f ...
File:Mantis religiosa (egg case).jpg, Recently laid ''M. religiosa'' ootheca
File:PrayingMantisesJustBorn (cropped).jpg, Hatching from the ootheca
File:Sphodromantis Lineola molting.jpg, '' Sphodromantis lineola'' molting
Sexual cannibalism
Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity. It has sometimes been observed in natural populations, where about a quarter of male-female encounters result in the male being eaten by the female. Around 90% of the predatory species of mantises exhibit sexual cannibalism. Adult males typically outnumber females at first, but their numbers may be fairly equivalent later in the adult stage, possibly because females selectively eat the smaller males. In '' Tenodera sinensis'', 83% of males escape cannibalism after an encounter with a female, but since multiple matings occur, the probability of a male's being eaten increases cumulatively.
The female may begin feeding by biting off the male's head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male's movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male's head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilization while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior is natural in the field or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual organisms and notice any disturbance in the laboratory or field, such as bright lights or moving scientists. Chinese mantises that had been fed ''ad libitum
In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation.
The ...
'' (so that they were not hungry) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in a courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Under such circumstances, the female has been known to respond with a defensive deimatic display by flashing the colored eyespots on the inside of her front legs.
The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated; experiments show that females on poor diets are likelier to engage in sexual cannibalism than those on good diets. Some hypothesize that submissive males gain a selective advantage by producing offspring; this is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males which are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is contrasted by a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males that actively avoid cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The same study also found that hungry females generally attracted fewer males than those that were well fed. The act of dismounting after copulation is dangerous for males, for it is the time that females most frequently cannibalize their mates. An increase in mounting duration appears to indicate that males wait for an opportune time to dismount a hungry female, who would be likely to cannibalize her mate. Experiments have revealed that the sex ratio in an environment determines male copulatory behavior of ''Mantis religiosa'' which in turn affects the cannibalistic tendencies of the female and support the sperm competition hypothesis because the polyandrous treatment recorded the highest copulation duration time and lowest cannibalism. This further suggests that dismounting the female can make males susceptible to cannibalism.
Relationship with humans
In culture, literature and art
One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary '' Erya'', which gives its attributes in poetry, where it represents courage and fearlessness, and a brief description. A later text, the ''Jingshi Zhenglei Daguan Bencao '' ("Great History of Medical Material Annotated and Arranged by Types, Based upon the Classics and Historical Works") from 1108, gives accurate details of the construction of the egg packages, the development cycle, anatomy, and the function of the antennae.
Although mantises are rarely mentioned in Ancient Greek sources, a female mantis in threat posture is accurately illustrated on a series of fifth-century BC silver coins, including didrachm
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...
s, from Metapontum in Lucania
Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto.
It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...
.
In the 10th century AD, Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era ''Adages'', Suidas describes an insect resembling a slow-moving green locust with long front legs. He translates Zenobius 2.94 with the words ''seriphos'' (maybe a mantis) and ''graus'', an old woman, implying a thin, dried-up stick of a body.
Mantises are a common motif in Luna Polychrome ceramics of pre-Columbian Nicaragua, and are believed to represent a deity or spirit called "Madre Culebra".
Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises became more accurate in the 18th century. Roesel von Rosenhof illustrated and described mantises and their cannibalistic behavior in the ' (''Insect Entertainments'').
In the early 1900's, people in the United States Ozarks
The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant port ...
region referred to them as Devil's horses.
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxle ...
made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in his 1962 novel ''Island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
'' (the species was '' Gongylus gongylodes''). The naturalist Gerald Durrell
Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island o ...
's humorously autobiographical 1956 book ''My Family and Other Animals
''My Family and Other Animals'' (1956) is an autobiographical book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It tells in an exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised way of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed mother on ...
'' includes a four-page account of an almost evenly matched battle between a mantis and a gecko. Shortly before the fatal ''dénouement
Dramatic structure (also known as dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of dramatic structures worldwide which have been hypothesized by critics, writers and schola ...
'', Durrell narrates:
M. C. Escher's woodcut ''Dream'' depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop. The 1957 film ''The Deadly Mantis
''The Deadly Mantis'' is a 1957 American science fiction monster film produced by William Alland for Universal-International. The film was directed by Nathan Juran from a screenplay by Martin Berkeley based on a story by producer William Allan ...
'' features a mantis as a giant monster. In the 1967 film ''Son of Godzilla
is a 1967 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Jun Fukuda, with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa, under the supervision of Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, it is the eighth film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise. It st ...
'' and other related films, the kaiju called " Kamacuras" are giant mantis monsters.
A cultural trope imagines the female mantis as a '' femme fatale''. The idea is propagated in cartoons by Cable, Guy and Rodd, LeLievre, T. McCracken, and Mark Parisi, among others. It ends Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted ...
's short film about the life of a praying mantis in her 2008 '' Green Porno'' season for the Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States).
* Sundance Channel (Canada)
* Sundance Channel (Netherlands)
* Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to:
* Sundance TV, formerly kno ...
.
Zorak
This is a list of characters on the Cartoon Network animated television series, ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'', which later moved to Adult Swim from 2001 to 2004, and then to Gametap from 2006 to 2008.
Main characters Space Ghost
Voiced by Ge ...
, a character from ''Space Ghost'', is also a mantis, and his species is a Dokarian.
Martial arts
Two martial arts separately developed in China have movements and fighting strategies based on those of the mantis. As one of these arts was developed in northern China, and the other in southern parts of the country, the arts are today referred to (both in English and Chinese) as 'Northern Praying Mantis
Northern Praying Mantis () is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its province of origin. It was created by Wang Lang (王朗) and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness o ...
' and 'Southern Praying Mantis
Southern Praying Mantis () is a Chinese martial art originating with the Hakka people. It is most closely associated with Hakka-origin styles such as Southern Dragon Kung Fu and Bak Mei.
Despite its name, the Southern Mantis style is unrelate ...
'. Both are very popular in China, and have also been exported to the West in recent decades.
In mythology and religion
According to local beliefs in Africa, this insect brings good luck. The mantis was revered by the southern African Khoi
Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...
and San in whose cultures man and nature were intertwined; for its praying posture, the mantis was even named ' ("god of the Hottentots") in the Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...
language that had developed among the first European settlers. However, at least for the San, the mantis was only one of the manifestations of a trickster-deity, ǀKaggen, who could assume many other forms, such as a snake, hare or vulture. Several ancient civilizations did consider the insect to have supernatural powers; for the Greeks, it had the ability to show lost travelers the way home; in the Ancient Egyptian '' Book of the Dead'', the "bird-fly" is a minor god that leads the souls of the dead to the underworld; in a list of 9th-century BC Nineveh grasshoppers (''buru''), the mantis is named necromancer
Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...
(''buru-enmeli'') and soothsayer (''buru-enmeli-ashaga''). Some pre-Columbian cultures in western Nicaragua have preserved oral traditions of the mantis as "Madre Culebra", a powerful predator and symbol of female symbolic authority.
As pets
Mantises are among the insects most widely kept as pets. Because the lifespan of a mantis is only about a year, people who want to keep mantises often breed them. In 2013 at least 31 species were kept and bred in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. In 1996 at least 50 species were known to be kept in captivity by members of the Mantis Study Group. ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' described the "giant Asian praying mantis" as "part stick insect with a touch of Buddhist monk", and stated that they needed a vivarium
A vivarium (Latin, literally for "place of life"; plural: ''vivaria'' or ''vivariums'') is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they a ...
around 30 cm (12 in) on each side. ''The Daily South'' argued that a pet insect was no weirder than a pet rat or ferret, and that while a pet mantis was unusual, it would not "bark, shed, rneed shots or a litter box".
For pest control
Naturally occurring mantis populations provide plant pest
A pest is any animal or plant harmful to humans or human concerns. The term is particularly used for creatures that damage crops, livestock, and forestry or cause a nuisance to people, especially in their homes. Humans have modified the environ ...
control. Gardeners who prefer to avoid pesticides may encourage mantises in the hope of controlling insect pests. However, mantises do not have key attributes of biological pest control agents; they do not specialize in a single pest insect, and do not multiply rapidly in response to an increase in such a prey species, but are general predators. They eat whatever they can catch, including both harmful and beneficial insects. They therefore have "negligible value" in biological control.
Two species, the Chinese mantis and the European mantis, were deliberately introduced to North America in the hope that they would serve as pest controls for agriculture; they have spread widely in both the United States and Canada.
Mantis-like robot
A prototype robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...
inspired by the forelegs of the praying mantis has front legs that allow the robot to walk
Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...
, climb steps, and grasp objects. The multi-jointed leg provides dexterity via a rotatable joint. Future models may include a more spiked foreleg to improve the grip and ability to support more weight.
References
External links
*
*
Mantis Study Group
– Information on mantises, phylogenetics and evolution.
Mantodea Species File
{{Authority control
Extant Cretaceous first appearances
Insects used as insect pest control agents
Insects in culture
Taxa named by Hermann Burmeister