| Name: |
Praying Mantis |
| AKA: |
Beggar, Snatcher |
| Scientific Name: |
Mantis religiosa |
| Description: |
Large 2 - 3.5 inches; long slender bodies; tan to brown
and often bright green; long thin legs with enlarged forelegs for
catching prey; winged with prominent compound eyes on a triangular
free-moving head (it can move its head to "look over its shoulder").
|
| Diet: |
They eat daytime insects such as caterpillars, flies,
butterflies, bees, moths and each other (they are cannibals!). The
female eats the male after mating. |
| Habitat: |
Meadows, on foliage and flowers. |
| Wanted For: |
Indiscriminate consumption of good and bad bugs. Attempts
to use them as pest control have failed due to their tendency to eat
each other or other good bugs. They especially like to feast on honey
bees going to and from the hive. |
| Last Known Location: |
Camouflaged in the garden against a plant of the same
color. |
 |
