Mantis religiosa

Description:

Originating in southern Europe, the European Mantis was introduced to North America in 1899 on a shipment of nursery plants. The European Mantis is usually 5–7.5 cm in length, and has shades of bright green to tan. It can be distinguished easily by a black-ringed spot beneath the fore coxae.It has a long thorax and thin antennae. It has two big compound eyes and three single ones in between. The head con turn 180 degrees. The front legs that maintains folded in front of the head ared cobered by spikes to grab the preys. They are lonely animals except during sexual mating. when there are more than one male close to a female they fight and only one mates. Females are bigger than males. Rarely, after mating the females eats the male. They can be green or buff with different hues. The adult color depends on the environment where it lives during the last moulting, i.e., green if it is grass or yellow if it is dry grass. It is the only animal with only one ear, it has it on the thorax.

Habitat:

Crosing a sandy path in a pine tree forest at 1500m high.