Praying Mantis

Description:

These insects have a body that is divided into three distinct parts. The three regions are head, thorax, and abdomen. They have large compound eyes on the head. These eyes move freely up to an angle of 180°. They have three simple eyes present between the compound eyes. The thorax region is elongated and looks like a neck. The front legs are attached to the thorax region. They have modified raptorial graspers with strong spikes. They use it to grasp and hold their prey. Praying mantis are basically diurnal. They are usually green or brown, that helps them camouflage on the plants they live. The praying mantis diet consist of moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, caterpillar and other small insects. They have quick hunting reflexes that are invisible to the naked human eye. They lie patiently in ambush, stalking their prey, and snarl the unsuspecting insect using the spikes on the front legs. After mating, the female mantis lays hundreds of eggs in a small case. The nymphs hatch from these eggs and have unmistakable resemblance to their parents. Their life cycle is very interesting. Praying mantis can live up to 12 months in the wild. Green to brown insect. Female's are larger than males.

Habitat:

They are widely distributed throughout the tropical, sub tropical and warm temperate regions of the worlds. Many species of praying mantis are found in the North and South America, South Africa, Europe, the Southern parts of Asia and some parts of Australia.

Notes:

This poor insect was found on an old farm porch. The farm cats were likely playing with it when we discovered it there. I think it was a bit stunned at first and was crouching down. After a few minutes it began to move again. We moved it to the Tomato plants in the garden to help out with the tomato worms. They make for great natural pest control!