Praying Mantis

Common Name: Praying Mantis or Praying Mantid

Family: Dictyoptera (Mantids and Roaches)

Characteristics and Behavior:

The Mantis is a sleek eating machine. Its triangular head pivots so that it can look directly behind itself. The eyes are large, enabling it to see tiny movements. Its antennae are short, though, hinting that this predator relies on its sense of sight to hunt prey. Next comes a long thorax, on which are mounted two grasping legs and four walking legs. The grasping legs remind one of crab claws, but their spikes are much sharper and longer (proportionally) than any crab’s. These legs are held folded, which makes the mantis appear to be at prayer. Long wing covers hide the membranous wings against the abdomen. Sometimes the abdomen appears quite heavy, especially in a female gravid with eggs. Most mantises are green or brown, though I have seen some that looked black. In tropical places, mantises come in all sorts of colors and shapes.

Mantises respond to movement. They will eat nearly anything that moves, unless it is bigger than they are. Mantises have been known to devour insects (including their kin), spiders, small toads, and even mice! If an animal can be caught in a mantis’s forelegs and subdued, it will be eaten. When a mantis eats, the prey is usually still kicking. The soft parts, such as the abdomens, are eaten first. Usually a mantis will drop the less palatable bits, like moth wings. Caterpillars seem to be favorite snacks. A mantis will eat almost constantly.

When a mantis emerges from its egg in the spring, it is very tiny. It is bright green, like the plants surrounding it. There are no wings in this nymph stage. A mantis egg sack hatches hundreds of babies, but the little ones eat each other until they have distributed themselves. After eating many teensy bugs, the mantis molts. A typical mantis will molt several times before it reaches its adult stage in late summer. As adults, the males are markedly smaller than the females. Often when mating, the female mantis will eat her mate, pivoting around and starting with the head. By the time she finishes him off, the eggs are well fertilized. A female will lay her eggs on a plant stalk. It looks like a foamy mass, which hardens into a fluffy-looking round shape. By the time winter comes, all the adult mantises will be dead. The eggs overwinter in the egg case, ready to hatch when Spring comes again.

Relation to Humans:

Mantises are generally seen as beneficial, since they eat other insects. However, mantises eat any insect, not just the ones destroying your vegetable garden. They will eat other beneficial insects just as ravenously as they do pests. Mantises make great indicators of the general health of an area, since they are top insect predators.

I kept mantises in my window as a child. They make excellent pets. It’s important to keep a mantis well fed. Fortunately, this is easy. I used to go out every evening and catch moths by the security lights. I discovered that mantises don’t seem to like big black crickets very much, and that an aggressive cricket will sometimes kill a mantis. When I took them out to play with them, my mantises always liked to climb up to the top of my head. Some of them would ride around, while others would then fly off and I’d have to catch them before my mom got too excited. I had a couple of mantises that would take bologna or hot dog off the tip of a moving toothpick. Several of them left their egg cases behind. To keep a mantis happy as a pet, make sure your container is large enough. They need something to climb on, like a stick or two. Make sure you clean out the cage often. Mantises will see you and watch you when you are around, so hold completely still if you want to observe them eating.

Attraction and Control:

As high-level predators, mantises are rather sensitive to pesticides. If you want to attract them to your yard, make sure you don’t use harsh chemicals. They seem to prefer landscapes with lots of goldenrod, Echinacea, and other tall flowering plants with sturdy stems. They will go where there are lots of prey insects to eat. One way of importing mantises is to collect their egg sacs from nearby fields in the fall. Just put the stalk in your garden, and baby mantises will hatch the following spring. I don’t recommend keeping the egg sac in your home unless you want to be inundated by mantis nymphs!

Mystical Mantis:

Because of its prayerful attitude and awareness of us, the mantis has often been considered a divine insect. The Bushmen of Australia considered Mantis a god. Other religious traditions have found Mantis to be a divine messenger. According to Joanne Elizabeth Lauck, it is not uncommon for mantises to show up synchronistically when someone is reading about the Bushmen and their traditions (Voice of the Infinite in the Small, 2002). Some people find Mantis a negative symbol, focusing on its ravenous appetite and alien appearance. But most humans, especially children, look upon Mantis with awe. It is approachable, yet utterly other. If Mantis comes into your life, pay attention. Perhaps the Divine is trying to make a connection with you!

Links and References:

Lauck, Joanne. Voice of the Infinite in the Small: Re-Visioning the Insect – Human Connection. Boston, MA: Shambhala, 2002.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/176
http://www.herper.com/insects/mantids.html
http://www.earthlife.net/insects/mant-key.html
http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/bionb424/students/gjs23/
http://whatsthatbug.com/mantis.html
http://www.earthlife.net/insects/mantids.html
http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/mantis.html
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef418.htm