Praying mantises are predatory insects that have received such an interesting name for their special “prayer” pose, which they take in the process of tracking prey. Quite a long time ago they were ranked among cockroaches due to the similarity of symptoms, but over time they were assigned to a separate detachment of the Bogomolovs.
External characteristics of the mantis
There are more than 2 thousand species of mantis on the planet, and all of them are fundamentally different in color and lifestyle. How to determine the type of mantis? In appearance, the representatives of the order of the Bogomolovs have many similar characteristics: a small triangular head, very mobile, with well-developed eyes, a narrow body, and articular limbs.
Existing front wings, equipped with an intricate pattern, insects are often used for protection; in the event of imminent danger, they are widely opened up, which frightens off the enemy. Transparent hind wings are required for flying. Sometimes there are completely wingless or short-winged specimens. How to determine what kind of praying mantis?
Insect specificity
The most specific feature of such a unique insect is its color, which coincides with the color of individual elements of its habitat: stones, grass, flowers, leaves of trees. Most often mantises are yellow and brown and green in color, which accounts for 80% of their total number. Fixed mantis in the natural environment is almost impossible to see. An insect can give out its presence only by movement.
A praying mantis moves slowly, but in case of danger it can very quickly move to a safe distance and freeze again in place. Because the favorite pose of such a unique insect is expectant. Like spiders, mantises are ambushes, ready to wait patiently for a long time waiting for an careless little cat.
Mantis lead a solitary lifestyle. Activity is shown to a greater extent during the day, as the potential victim is monitored visually. It is because of the long wait that the vast majority of insects has a protective color, and some specimens have a special body shape. For example, the species of mantis that lives in the grass is painted green and resembles a blade of grass, brown-mottled insects look like dry twigs. In the mantis Choerododis stalii, wearable tiny specks mimic damage to the leaf plate of the plant. Tropical species of mantis, waiting for their prey in flowers, have a curved abdomen and flat lobes on their legs, resembling flower petals.
Particularly striking in its adaptability to natural colors is the Orchid Mantis, which at a young age has a white color, becomes pink as it grows up, completely indistinguishable from a flower.
Praying Mantis: The Most Common Species
The most common are common mantises.
In Russia, species of such insects are found mainly in the steppe regions, as well as in southern Siberia, the North Caucasus, the Far East, South Africa, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The tree mantis from the genus Hierodula and the spotted-winged mantis (Iris polystictica) also lives there.
In the southern regions of Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Empusa mantis adapted, characterized by large sizes (about 6.5 cm in length), a pointed triangular head and a protruding long outgrowth in front.
Preferring open shrubby spaces, it is most activated in the dark. Larvae appear in the summer and immediately switch to feeding on butterflies and filly. In the southern regions of Russia, mantis of the genus Bolivaria is often found.
By the way, bolivariums, spotted-winged mantises and empuses in some places become rare representatives of the animal world due to the destruction of dense forbs when plowing the steppe lands.
Desert mantis species, whose names are difficult to remember for the average layman, are characterized by small size and similarity with ants in the process of movement. Bright representatives are Rivetina (Rivetina and Armena).
Habitat
A mantis can live both on the upper tiers of trees and shrubs, and on the very surface of the earth, in the grass. Thanks to well-developed wings, the insect can fly, and only males rush in flight. If there is enough food, a mantis can live on a tree for the rest of its days.
Being thermophilic in nature, the most comfortable mantis feel in the tropical and subtropical zone. It is there, in stony deserts and moist forests, that the largest number of varieties of such an insect is found. In cold climates, predators tend to inhabit the most warmed up regions: upland meadows and steppes.
Power Features
Almost all species of mantis eat insects, representatives of the tropics prefer lizards and frogs. In a day, a mantis is able to eat 7 small cockroaches, spending about half an hour each chewing. The process of eating is consistent: first chews the soft parts, and then moves on to harder ones. The norm of life for them is cannibalism, which sometimes manifests itself at the most inopportune moment.
It is noticed that the mantis female after mating often eats its chosen one. In order not to be in the stomach of her lady, the partner before the act of intercourse performs a ritual dance, setting up the female for a peaceful mood.
Mating tropical mantis is performed year-round, temperate mantis species combine in a single rush in the autumn. The female is able to lay up to four hundred eggs several times. The place of masonry chooses any suitable surface: grass stalks, tree branches, sand. Each masonry is dipped into a foamy mass by the female; when solidified, the capsule forms a gray, brown or sand color. Egg maturation lasts from 3 weeks to six months. In temperate species, eggs survive wintering. Mantis nymphs differ from adult insects only in the absence of wings; body shape is exactly the same, as well as gluttony. Growing individuals develop very quickly and in the process of growing up they can survive about fifty links.
