Praying Mantis Life Cycle

Praying mantis is a carnivorous insect notorious for eating almost any living thing that comes in its way which includes some useful insects as well! The body structure of praying mantis is almost same as all insects, which is divided into three parts as abdomen, head and thorax and the antennas that are used for smelling.

Anatomy
The abdomen of the praying mantis is elongated and in adults, it is covered with the wings. The head is triangular with mounted compound eyes. The sizes and the colors of the praying mantis vary according to their species. The colors range from faint green to faint pink, but most commonly, they are pea green or brown in color. Some praying mantis are pink in color, especially the species found on the pink colored flowers of tropical regions. Praying mantis have very sensitive eyes that move in a 180⁰ angle and they can see predators at a distance of 60 feet.

Habitat
The praying mantis likes to stay in warm and humid regions. Hence, various species of praying mantis are found in North and South America, Europe, Southern Asia, Australia and South Africa. There are more than 2000 species of praying mantises, with the smallest being 2/5 part of an inch and the biggest being 12 inch long. Most of the species of praying mantis are found in Asia and about 20 species are native to the United States of America. Most of the species of flower mantis make a perfect illusion of a flower, which actually confuses their prey that sometimes land on the backs of the praying mantis to collect the nectar. Camouflaging helps the praying mantis to stay safe from numerous predators, like birds and bats.

Prey
The humble forelegs that gave this name to the praying mantis are actually extremely well equipped, with sharp spine like rows that help them to catch their prey. The praying mantis mimics the leaves and stems in a way that makes them almost invisible to their prey. When the prey is within the reach of praying mantis, they put their pincher like foreleg forward and grab it. Most often, they start eating their prey when it is still alive and that too from the neck of the insect. The prey of the praying mantises are usually fellow mantises, butterflies, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets and almost all invertebrates. Some species of praying mantis eats vertebrates like small frogs, mice, lizards and even hummingbirds!

Life Cycle
Life cycle of praying mantis starts with a unique, infamous and interesting method that is known as, 'sexual cannibalism'. In this method, the female kills or feeds herself on the male after mating. In some species of praying mantis, females eat the head of their mate after the process of fertilization. This is actually a topic of debate though many researchers deny the hypothesis. It is said that only 15% of the praying mantis female eats the male mantis after mating. Praying mantis lifespan varies with respect to the species, but the average lifespan of a praying mantis is almost one year. And in most of the species of praying mantis, they live only 6 months as an adult. Summer season is the breeding season of the praying mantis. There are three stages in the life cycle of a praying mantis.

• Eggs: After fertilization, the female praying mantis lays 10 to 400 eggs in the autumn season. These eggs are secured on leaves, stems or any other safe surface. The egg houses are interesting frothy liquid like structures present in their abdomen, called ootheca. It has a compartment-like special formation for every single egg. These compartments have a small one way valve like structures that helps the insects to get hatched with minimum efforts. These 'oothecas' are meant to protect the baby praying mantis during the cold winter time.
• Nymphs: The developed small-sized mantis come out of the oothecas in the spring season. The first meal of these small praying mantis is surprisingly, their siblings! These nymphs also eat flies, aphids and small grasshoppers. These nymphs take the whole summer season to grow up to adulthood.
• Adults: On reaching adulthood, the small praying mantis shed many layers of their exoskeleton, which is called molting. Below their exoskeleton are their growing wings.

Small praying mantis of most of the species actually look like small ants but with the series of molts, they eventually start to look like their parents.

Praying Mantis Facts

• Praying mantises are diurnal insects, which means they work and hunt only during the day time.
• The praying mantis shed their exoskeleton (outer skin layer) for a record 12 times, before growing into the full adult.
• Praying mantises are supposedly very useful insects for gardeners and farmers as natural insecticides. Hence, it is legal in the US to sell and keep only the native praying mantises.
• When threatened by predators, the praying mantis stand tall with open mouth, fanning wings and spread out forelegs they do to look bigger than their actual size in order to scare the opponents.
• Some species of praying mantis never grow wings at all and those who have the wings fly only when the female mantis spreads the pheromones (chemical signals) to attract the male.
• An interesting fact, the praying mantis has only one ear, that uses the same ultrasonic frequency that the bats use, which are by far their biggest predators.

The praying mantis name is often misspelled as 'preying' mantis which can be because of their significant preying characteristics. It is always a fun to observe an insect and especially when it is the 'alien-like' triangular headed praying mantis. If you go in your garden, you will surely find some native species of preying mantis, planning its next prey. Wouldn't this be a great experience to observe the praying mantis life cycle more closely?