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Mantidae

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Orchid praying mantis

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The orchid praying mantis is Asiatic in origin, its natural habitat being in Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia. It camouflages easily under tropical rainforest orchids thanks to its pastel colors. That appearance has two functions: it conceals the mantis from potential predators, and it fools the different pollinators the mantis feeds on by luring them and trapping them.

Breeding:

The male makes advances by drumming on the female’s thorax with its forelegs. He being about twice as small as the female, it sometimes happens that she feeds on him during mating (which takes between 24 and 36 hours). But that behavior is infrequent.

Fifteen days after mating, the female deposits an ootheca consisting of between 25 and 50 eggs. In the weeks that follow she produces as many as four other oothecae.

Ghost mantis

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Meet the ghost mantis, which you can observe in the Tête-à-tête aera at the Insectarium.

This mantis, found in southern and eastern Africa, looks like a dead leaf. This highly effective camouflage allows it to be mistaken for plant debris, so unsuspecting prey approach without hesitation. To perfect the illusion, it can even hang upside down beneath branches.

Ghost mantises get their Latin name (Phyllocrania paradoxa) from the unusual, leaf-like shape of their head. In Latin, phyllo means “leaf” and crania means “head.” Their head is highly mobile, allowing them to scan their surroundings without moving the rest of their body—making them less likely to be detected by predators.

Praying mantids

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Mantis religiosa

These are large insects, from 4.7 to 5.6 cm long, pale green to greyish-brown in colour. They are easily recognizable by their characteristic grasping forelegs, adapted to capturing prey, and their long “neck,” or prothorax.

The very mobile head has a pair of antennae and ends in a small mouth. With their large compound eyes and three simple eyes, praying mantids have exceptionally good vision for insects.

Two pairs of wings are attached to the thorax. Long, slender forewings protect the second pair of wings, normally folded, that open up like fans.

Females are much larger than males.

Mantids

English

Mantids are among the most recognizable insects. Their characteristic prayer-like posture, with folded forelimbs close to its thorax, is what earned them the common name of praying mantis. They have a very mobile triangular head and large compound eyes. Their broad, spiny forelegs are used to capture living prey.

In many species, the females are wingless or short-winged. Males have two pairs of wings and use them to fly to their partners.

The mantid species found in Canada and the United States belong to the Mantidae family. They are brown, green or grey, and blend in with the colour of the surrounding vegetation and bark.

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