Praying mantis Facts

About the praying mantis

Over 2,400 species of mantis live across temperate and tropical parts of the world. Each has a triangular head with bulging eyes on a flexible neck, and a long body that may or may not have wings. Most hunt by ambush, staying perfectly still until prey comes within reach, though a few ground species chase their food. Their closest relatives are termites and cockroaches.

A mantis usually lives about a year. In cooler places, adults lay eggs in autumn and then die, leaving the eggs to ride out winter in hard protective cases before hatching in spring. Females sometimes eat their mates. People often mix mantises up with stick insects, grasshoppers or mantisflies.

Did you know?

• Ancient Greece, Egypt and Assyria all credited mantises with supernatural powers.
• Mantises rank among the insects people most often keep as pets.
• The mantis order holds about 460 genera spread across 33 families.