mantis

The praying mantis is a superbly designed predator. It waits motionless or slightly swaying as if in a breeze until prey appears. Many species are effectively camouflaged to look like dead leaves. The female mantis is notorious for eating its mate during copulation (although this behaviour is relatively uncommon).

Any of a group of carnivorous insects related to cockroaches. There are about 2,000 species of mantis, mainly tropical; some can reach a length of 20 cm/8 in. (Family Mantidae, order Dictyoptera.)

Mantises are often called ‘praying mantises’ because of the way they hold their front legs, adapted for grasping prey, when at rest. The eggs are laid in September and hatch early the following summer.

The 10 cm/4 in-long Chinese praying mantis, proficient at garden pest control, is now naturalized in North America.