View allAll Photos Tagged PrayingMantis
I raise mantis ... hundred of them.
Mantises are notable for their hunting abilities. They are exclusively predatory, and their diet usually consists of living insects, including flies and aphids; larger species have been known to prey on small lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, and even rodents. Most mantises are ambush predators, waiting for prey to stray too near.
Praying mantis toilet.
Un geste si féminin ... Comment le mâle de la mante religieuse pourrait-il résister à une telle élégance ? (Mante religieuse rencontrée en ville, à Hyères, Var, France).
By way of description...this is a VERY tiny mantis. It was less than an inch long...smaller than a damsel fly, and the mantis head was smaller than a damselfly head.
Female Chinese Praying Mantis
She lives on my container plants on the deck. When it will get colder I would probably take her home to live in the terrarium. They make beautiful pets and can live till January if indoors. Females are especially interesting: poised, calm, curious.
Males are usually frantic and unpredictable. I guess because they are afraid they might be eaten any minute..
Tiny little Mantis-Fly (family Mantispidae) I found in the bathroom a couple of weeks ago. He was only about an inch long.
I found a Praying Mantis on my sandals and she let me patiently study her.
She can turn her head like a human and look at you; it can give you goose pimples!
As ghostly as she may appear, doesn’t she look elegant? She moves ever so slowly, swaying gently, and it looks as if she is actually dancing. The slow Tango of the Praying Mantis.
I was pruning my rosebush when I came across this little friend. I don't think he was happy I was snipping away his home.
'Mantis religiosa' -- Mantids are strictly predatory and hunt using a combination of camouflage, stealthy motions, and incredibly fast grasping lunges--their capture strike is completed in a few hundredths of a second. Some species can capture surprisingly large victims, including hummingbirds, lizards, and mice, but usually they prey on other insects. Their triangular heads have large, bulging eyes--check out mantid looking at me as I take this shot--because mantids can move their heads more freely than most insects.
(PACIFIC NORTHWEST INSECTS--Merrill A. Peterson)