From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see
Mantises are an
(Mantodea) of
that contains
in 15 families. The largest family is the
("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in
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 catchi their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.
The closest relatives of mantises are the
(), which are all within the
. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects (), other elongated insects such as
(), or other insects with
forelegs such as mantisflies (). Mantises are mostly , 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 , eating their mates after copulation.
Mantises were considered to have
by early civilizations, including , , and . A cultural
popular in
imagines the female mantis as a . Mantises are among the insects most commonly kept as .
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
of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with stick insects (Phasmatodea), were once placed in the order
with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and rock crawlers (now ). Kristensen (1991) combined the Mantodea with the cockroaches and
into the order , 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 . 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 , which was, historically, the only family in the order. The other common name, praying mantis, applied to any species in the order, but in Europe mainly to , comes from the typical "-like" posture with folded fore limbs. The vernacular plural "mantises" (used in this article) was confined largely to the USA, with "mantids" predominantly used as the plural in the UK and elsewhere in 1996.
The classification most commonly adopted is that proposed by Beier in 1968. He divided the order into eight families. Klass, in 1997, studied the external male genitalia and postulated that the families
diverged from the other families at an early date. However, the Mantidae and Thespidae are both , so the Mantodea will have to be revised.
Mantidflies (, related to ), have
forelegs like mantises, but their fore wings are not leathery.
The earliest mantis fossils are about 135 million years old, from Siberia. Fossils of the group are rare: by 2007, only about 25 fossil species were known. Fossil mantises, including one from Japan with spines on the front legs as in modern mantises, have been found in
amber. Most fossils compression fossils (in rock) include adults. Fossil mantises from the
in Brazil include the 10-mm-long , 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 .
Because of the similar
may be confused with mantises. This similari mantidflies do not have the leathery forewings of mantises.
Wing arrangement of a typical mantis, adult male
Mantises have large, triangular heads with a beak-like snout and . They have two bulbous , three small simple eyes, and a pair of . The articulation of the neck is also some species of mantis can rotate their heads nearly 180°. The mantis thorax consists of a , a , and a . In all species apart from the genus , 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.
The raptorial foreleg, showing the unusually long coxa, which, together with the trochanter, gives the impression of a femur. The femur itself is the
segment of the grasping part of the leg.
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
combine as an inconspic in the raptorial legs, however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the , 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
used as a walking appendage, made of four or five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no .
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 , are usually narrow and leathery. They function as camouflage and as a shield for the hind wings, which are clearer and more delicate. The abdomen of all mantises consists of 10 , with a corresponding set of nine
visible in males and seven visible in females. The abdomen tends to be slimmer in males than females, but ends in a pair of
in both sexes.
Head of , showing the compound eyes and
Mantises have . They locate their compound eyes contain up to 10,000 . 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 wi 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
situated, affording a wide
and precise stereoscopic vision at close range. The dark spot on each eye that moves as it rotates its head is a . This occurs because the ommatidia that are viewed "head-on" absorb the , while those to the side reflect it.
As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantises are primarily . Many species, however, fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Mantids in the family Liturgusidae collected at light have been shown to be this is probably true for most mantids. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in locating less-mobile females by detecting their . 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
calls and responding evasively.
Mantis eating a common bushbrown butterfly,
Mantises are generalist
of arthropods. The majority of mantises are
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 and frogs.
feeding on a
Most mantises chase 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
, a ground mantid that runs down its prey
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.
live longer, grow faster, and produce more young when they are able to eat pollen.
Further information:
Mantises are preyed on by vertebrates such as frogs, lizards, and birds, and by invertebrates such as spiders and ants. Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage, most species being cryptically colored to resemble
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
are : 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 e at this time of year, bush fires occur and this coloration enables them to blend in with the fire-ravaged landscape ().
are camouflaged pink or yellow, matching the coloration of local .
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 hind wings 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 () , some species may also produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal . Mantises lack chemical protection, so their displays are largely bluff. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sou 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 , show rocking behavior in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behavior include the enhancement of
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 , , and , like many other arthropods, avoid attacking them. Exploiting this behavior, a variety of arthropods, including some early-instar mantises,
to evade their predators.
has leaf-like fore wings and a widened green .
Adult female
performs a bluffing , rearing back with the forelegs and wings spread and mouth opened.
The jeweled flower mantis, : the brightly colored wings are opened suddenly in a
to startle predators.
Some mantis
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 frothy mass-produced by
in the abdomen. This froth hardens, creating a protective capsule, which together with the egg mass is called an ootheca. 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 . In a few species, mostly ground and bark mantises in the family , the mother guards the eggs. The cryptic
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
from the southern United S no males have ever been found in this species, and the females breed . The ability to reproduce by parthenogenesis has been recorded in at least two other species,
and Miomantis sp., although these species usually reproduce sexually. In temperate climates, adults do not survive the winter and the eggs undergo a , 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
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
its . 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 de smaller ones may live 4–8 weeks, while larger species may live 4–6 months.
mating (brown male, green female)
Mantis laying ootheca
Recently laid Mantis religiosa
Typical Praying Mantis Ootheca (Egg Case) attached to bush twigs.
Newly hatched mantises
Further information:
Sexual cannibalism in Mantis religiosa
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 results in the males being eaten by the female. Around 90% of the predatory species of mantises participate in 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 , 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
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
(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 cannibal experiments show that females on low quality diets have a higher chance to engage in sexual cannibalism compared to females on high quality diets. Some consider that submissive males gain a selective advantage by producing offspring. This theory 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 at this time, 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.
One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary , which gives its attributes in poetry, where it represents courage and fearlessness, and a brief description. A later text, the
("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 , from
in . In the 10th century AD,
era Adages,
describes an insect resembling a slow-moving green locust with long front legs. He translates
2.94 with the words seriphos (maybe a mantis) and graus, an old woman, implying a thin, dried-up stick of a body.
Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises became more accurate in the 18th century.
illustrated and described mantises and their cannibalistic behavior in the Insekten-Belustigungen (Insect Entertainments).
reflected on death as a pair of
made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in his 1962 novel
(the species was ). The naturalist 's humorously autobiographical 1956 book
includes a four-page account of an almost evenly matched battle between a mantis and a . Shortly before the fatal , Durrell narrates:
he [Geronimo the gecko] crashed into the mantis and made her reel, and grabbed the underside of her thorax in his jaws. Cicely [the mantis] retaliated by snapping both her front legs shut on Geronimo's hindlegs. They rustled and staggered across the ceiling and down the wall, each seeking to gain some advantage.
's woodcut Dream depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop. The 1957 film
features a mantis as a .
A cultural
imagines the female mantis as a . The idea is propagated in cartoons by Cable, Guy and Rodd, LeLievre, T. McCracken, and Mark Parisi, among others. It ends 's short film about the life of a praying mantis in her 2008
season for the .
Grandmasters of the , Shi DeRu and Shi DeYang, demonstrating the
style of martial art
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 nowadays referred to (both in English and Chinese) as '' and ''. Both are very popular in China, and have also been exported to the West in recent decades.
The mantis was considered a god in southern African
tradition for the word for the mantis in
is Hottentotsgot ("god of the Khoi"). Several ancient civilizations considered the insect to have for the Greeks, it had the ability to show lost tr in the
the "bird-fly" is a minor god that leads the souls of the de in a list of 9th-century BC
grasshoppers (buru), the mantis is named necromancer (buru-enmeli) and
(buru-enmeli-ashaga).
Gray adult female
in human hand
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.
described the "giant Asian praying mantis" as "part stick insect with a touch of Buddhist monk", and stated that they needed a vivarium around 30 cm (12 in) on each side. The
recorded that a pet "budwing mantis" in Arizona "lifted a dead goldfish" out of its bowl and ate it. The Daily South argued that a pet insect was no weirder than a pet rat or , and that while a pet mantis was unusual, it would not "bark, shed, [or] need shots or a litter box".
Gardeners who prefer to avoid
may encourage mantises in the hope of controlling insect pests. However, mantises do not have key a 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 cont they have spread widely in both the United States and Canada.
Further information:
A prototype
inspired by the forelegs of the praying mantis has front legs that allow the robot to , 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.
Otte, D Spearman, Lauren.
Hurd, I. E. (1999). "Ecology of Praying Mantids". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. . Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 43–49.  .
Hurd, I. E. (1999). "Mantid in Ecological Research". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. The Praying Mantids. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 231.  .
Costa, James (2006). . Harvard University Press. pp. 135–136.  .
Capinera, John L. (2008). . 4. Springer. pp. .  .
Essig, Edward Oliver (1947). . Macmillan Company. pp. 124, 900.  .
Harper, Douglas. . .
Bullock, William (1812).
(12th ed.).
Partington, Charles Frederick (1837). . 1. W. S. Orr.
. National Geographic Society 2015.
Bragg, P.E. (1996) Mantis, Mantid, Mantids, Mantises. Mantis Study Group Newsletter, 1:4.
Beier, M. (1968). "Ordnung Mantodea (Fangheuschrecken)". Handbuch der Zoologie. 4 (2): 3–12.
Klass, Klaus-Dieter (1997). . Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut.  .
Martill, David M.; Bechly, Gü Loveridge, Robert F. (2007). . Cambridge University Press. pp. 236–238.  .
Ryall, Julian (25 April 2008). . National Geographic Society 2015.
Boyden, Thomas C. (1983). "Mimicry, predation and potential pollination by the mantispid, Climaciella brunnea var. instabilis (Say) (Mantispidae: Neuroptera)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 91 (4): 508–511.  .
Roy, Roger (1999). "Morphology and Taxonomy". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. The Praying Mantids. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 21–33.  .
Siwanowicz, Igor (2009). Animals Up Close. Dorling Kindersley. pp. 38–39.  .
Corrette, Brian J. (1990).
(PDF). Journal of Experimental Biology. 148: 147–180.  .
Kemper, William T.
(PDF). Missouri Botanical Garden 2015.
Nityananda, V Tarawneh, G Rosner, R Nicolas, J Crichton, S Read, Jenny (2016). . Scientific Reports. 6: 18718. :.  .  .
Rossel, S (1983). "Binocular stereopsis in an insect". Nature. 302 (5911): 821–822. :.
Rossel, S (1996). . Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 93 (23): 1. :.  .  .
Simmons, Peter J.; Young, David (1999). . Cambridge University Press. p. 8990.  .
Howard, Ian P.; Rogers, Brian J. (1995). . Oxford University Press. p. 646.  .
Zeil, J Al-Mutairi, Maha M. (1996).
(PDF). The Journal of Experimental Biology. 199 (7): .  .
Bragg, P.E. (2010) A review of the Liturgusidae of Borneo (Insecta: Mantodea). Sepilok Bulletin, 12: 21-36.
Yager, David (1999). "Hearing". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. The Praying Mantids. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 101–103.  .
Grimaldi, D Engel, Michael, S. (2005). Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press. p. 257.  .
Ross, Edward S. (February 1984). "Mantids—The Praying Predators". . 165 (2): 268–280.  .  .
Capinera, John L. (2008). . Springer. p. 1509.  .
Grimaldi, D Engel, Michael S. (2005). . Cambridge University Press. p. 254.  .
Gelperin, Alan (July 1968). . Nature. 219: 399–400. :.
Prete, F. R.; Cleal, K. S. (1996). "The predatory strike of free ranging praying mantises, Sphodromantis lineola (Burmeister). I: Strikes in the mid-sagittal plane". Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 48 (4): 173–190. :.  .
Capinera, John L. (2008). . Springer. p. 116.  .
Beckman, N Hurd, Lawrence E. (2003). "Pollen feeding and fitness in praying mantids: the vegetarian side of a tritrophic predator". Environmental Entomology. 32 (4): 881–885. :.
Iyer, Geetha (13 August 2011). . Frontline Magazine. 28 (17).
Gullan, P. J.; Cranston, P. S. (2010). The Insects: An Outline of Entomology (4th ed.). Wiley. p. 370.  .
Edmunds, M Brunner, Dani (1999). "Ethology of Defenses against Predators". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. The Praying Mantids. Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 282–293.  .
(1940). . Methuen. pp. 392–393.
Annandale, Nelson (1900). "Observations on the habits and natural surroundings of insects made during the 'Skeat Expedition' to the Malay Peninsula, ". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 69: 862–865.
O'Hanlon, James C.; Holwell, Gregory I.; Herberstein, Marie E. (2014). "Pollinator deception in the orchid mantis". The American Naturalist. 183 (1): 126–132. :.
Yager, D.; May, M. (1993). "Coming in on a wing and an ear". Natural History. 102 (1): 28–33.
. National Geographic Society 2012.
O'Dea, J. D. (1991). "Eine zusatzliche oder alternative Funktion der 'kryptischen' Schaukelbewegung bei Gottesanbeterinnen und Stabschrecken (Mantodea, Phasmatodea)". Entomologische Zeitschrift. 101 (1–2): 25–27.
Nelson, Ximena J.; Jackson, Robert R. (2006). "Innate aversion to ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and ant mimics: experimental findings from mantises (Mantodea)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 88 (1): 23–32. :.
Ene, J. C. (1964). "The distribution and post-embryonic development of Tarachodes afzelli (Stal) (Mantodea : Eremiaphilidae)". Journal of Natural History. 7 (80): 493–511. :.
Michael, Maxwell. R. (1999). "Mating Behavior". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H.; Hurd, Lawrence E. The Praying Mantids. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 70.  .
Bragg, P.E. (1987) A case of parthenogenesis in a mantis. Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists' Society, 46 (356): 160.
Bragg, P. E. (December 1989). . Mantis Study Group 2017.
Dickie, S. (1996) Parthenogenesis in mantids. Mantis Study Group Newsletter, 1: 5.
Lawrence, S. E. (1992). "Sexual cannibalism in the praying mantid, Mantis religiosa: a field study". Animal Behaviour. 43 (4): 569–583. :.
Hurd, L. E.; Eisenberg, R. M.; Fagan, W. F.; Tilmon, K. J.; Snyder, W. E.; Vandersall, K. S.; Datz, S. G.; Welch, J. D. (1994). "Cannibalism reverses male-biased sex ratio in adult mantids: female strategy against food limitation?". Oikos. 69 (2): 193–198. :.
Maxwell, Michael R. (1998). "Lifetime mating opportunities and male mating behaviour in sexually cannibalistic praying mantids". Animal Behaviour. 55 (4): . :.
Wilder, Shawn M.; Rypstra, Ann L.; Elgar, Mark A. (2009). "The importance of ecological and phylogenetic conditions for the occurrence and frequency of sexual cannibalism". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 40: 21–39. :.
. Entomology Today. 22 December .
Liske, E.; Davis, W. J. (1984). "Sexual behaviour of the Chinese praying mantis". Animal Behaviour. 32 (3): 916–918. :.
Lelito, Jonathan P.; Brown, William D. (2006). "Complicity or conflict over sexual cannibalism? Male risk taking in the praying mantis Tenodera aridifolia sinensis". The American Naturalist. 168 (2): 263–269. :.  .
Liske, E.; Davis, W. J. (1987). "courtship and mating behaviour of the Chinese praying mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinenesis". Animal Behaviour. 35: . :.
Maxwell, Michael R.; Gallego, Kevin M.; Barry, Katherine L. (2010). "Effects of female feeding regime in a sexually cannibalistic mantid: fecundity, cannibalism, and male response in Stagmomantis limbata (Mantodea)". Ecological Entomology. 35 (6): 775–87. :.
Bodson, Liliane (2014). Campbell, Gordon Lindsay, ed. . Oxford University Press. pp. 557–558.  .
. Occultopedia. California Astrology Association 2015.
Erasmus, D Fantazzi, Charles (1992). . University of Toronto Press. pp. 334–335.  .
Prete, Frederick R.; Wells, Harrington.: Wells, Patrick H. (1999). "The Predatory Behavior of Mantids: Historical Attitudes and Contemporary Questions". In Prete, Fredrick R.; Wells, H Wells, Patrick H. & Hurd, Lawrence E. . Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 3–8.  .
Durrell, Gerald (2006) [1956]. . Penguin Books. pp. 204–208.  .
Emmer, M Schattschneider, Doris (2007). . Springer. p. 66.  .
Wade, Lisa (29 November 2010). . The Society Pages 2015.
. CartoonStock 2015.
Parisi, Mark. . Off the Mark 2015.
McCracken, T. . McHumor Cartoons 2015.
(2008). . Sundance Channel 2015.
Rossellini, Isabella (2009).
(Press Kit). Sundance Channel 2015.
. Praying Mantis Kung Fu Academy. Archived from
Hagood, Roger D. (2012). 18 Buddha Hands: Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Southern Mantis Press.  .
Funk, Jon. . Praying Mantis Kung Fu 2015.
Barnes, Bryan. . Shantung Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu 2015.
Orum, Pete. . Southern Mantis Kung Fu 2015.
. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2015.
. University of Kentucky 2015.
Van Zomeren, Linda. . Keeping Insects 2015.
(PDF). UK Mantis Forums Newsletter (Newsletter). UK Mantis Forums. October .
Bragg, P.E. [editor] (1996) Species in culture. Mantis Study Group Newsletter, 1: 2-3.
Buckley, Jamie (17 October 2009). . The Independent 2015.
Richards, David (12 September 2011). . The Daily Mail 2015.
Bender, Steve (30 August 2015). . The Daily South 2015.
Doutt, R. L.
(PDF). University of California Division of Agricultural Sciences 2015.
. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 2015.
Cardona, R Touretzky, David. . Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence. Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society 2016.
This audio file was created from a revision of the "Mantis" article dated , and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ()
Wikimedia Commons has media related to .
has the text of the
– Information on mantises, phylogenetics and evolution.
Extant Mantodea families
: Hidden categories:}