Surprise!
Now, I will start out by saying there will be some bias here. These are absolutely my favorite insect order. How could they not be look at that stance! Okay, lets get started on the interesting facts: Mantids are also commonly called “praying mantises” because of their stance. In fact, their scientific name Mantodea comes from the Greek word meaning prophet, again it is the stance. They are mostly closely related to the orders Blattodea, cockroaches, and Isoptera, termites.
Known for the praying stance.
The most apparently feature on the mantids is those front two legs. The are called raptorial legs and are used for catching and holding prey firmly. Another interesting anatomy fact is they are the only insect that can turn their head 360 degrees. This means they are always watching. All mantids are predatory eating mostly insects, but sometimes larger prey like scorpions, spiders, lizards, frogs and even rodents. I linked to the coolest mantid video I have ever seen. Mantid vs snake!
Baby mantids hatching from ootheca
Last interesting fact, is that mantids are hemimetabolous, which means the baby mantids look just like the adults. The mother lays her eggs in an ootheca, which contains between 10-400 eggs depending on the species. When the eggs hatch, tiny mantids crawl out. They have very little protection and rely fully on camouflage. Often they will even mimic ants. That is all for the mantid. Don’t forget to watch the supercool video. Usually, youtube recommends other similar videos and those tend to be awesome as well.
