Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis

  Praying mantises are insects belong to the order Mantodea. They are where called “praying mantis” for the design of their forelimbs that are held by the insect as if they are praying. What they are really doing is waiting to ambush any insect that moves into the reach. The first two legs of the Praying mantises have been modified into very large spiked and fast forearms used to snatch their prey then hold it in place. They will bite off its head then eat their prey alive. Praying mantises do not have venom to paralyze or kill their victims. They do not liquefy its food before it eats. Its powerful mandibles slice up then clew its victim as it moves it head back and forth across the body.

  The praying mantis hunts by sight mostly in daylight using their large compound eyes. This gives them give them wide field of vision. Insects see very differently than larger animals that have eyes like ours. Insect vision using compound eyes is designed to detect movement not the sharpness of an image. The praying mantis still has better vision than most insects.

  Nearly all of their prey is small insects and other invertebrates but large species will eat any animal small enough to catch. Mice and birds have been caught and partly eaten. Because most are ambush predators and they need to evade bigger predators the praying mantis are masters of camouflage. Different species can mimic sticks, flowers, ants, tree bark, leaves, stones or small rocks for example. Any larger insectivores will eat a mantis. Bats, birds, bullfrogs, lizards, and snakes are just a few animals that prey on the praying mantis.

  Some species of praying mantis the males displayed elaborate courtship behavior to change the female’s attention from feeding to mating. But they are better known for sexual cannibalism where the female eats the male after mating. Gardeners use praying mantises as a form of biological pest control because of their ravenous appetites. They will devour anything they can capture including other beneficial insects. If there is inadequate food supply they will cannibalize each other.