European mantis

European Mantis
Lisbon, Portugal
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Mantodea
Family:	Mantidae
Genus:	Mantis
Species:	M. religiosa
Binomial name
Mantis religiosa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Mantis religiosa, referred to as the European Mantis outside of Europe and known simply as the Praying Mantis in Europe and elsewhere, is one of the most well-known and widespread species of the order Mantodea.

Overview

Mantis religiosa, close-up of a male

Originating in southern Europe, the European Mantis was introduced to North America in 1899 on a shipment of nursery plants. Now they are found all over the north-eastern United States and Canada to the Pacific Northwest. The European Mantis is usually 5–7.5 cm (2–3 inches) 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 is one of several different insects for which a name used within Europe to refer to only a single insect species (in this case, "praying mantis") has become adopted throughout the globe to refer to the larger group of insects to which that one species belongs (e.g., compare "hornet" to European hornet, or "wasp" to common wasp).

Despite being an introduced species, it is the official state insect of Connecticut.^[1]

Gallery

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  Egg case (ootheca) of Mantis religiosa

• Mantis religiosa preying and eating a grasshopper

References

1. ^ CT.gov: The State Insect; retrieved on August 09, 2010

External links

Data related to Mantis religiosa at Wikispecies

• Photographs of European Mantis
• A European Mantis feeding on a variety of insects