Praying mantis

Description:

Mantodea (or mantises, mantii) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 valid species and about 430 genera[1] in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term mantid was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only the Mantidae family was recognized within the order. The term mantid only refers to the Mantidae family, meaning the species in the other 14 recently established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term "mantises" should be used when referring to the entire order