Praying Mantis

(The word mantis is from the Greek word μάντις for prophet.)




Praying Mantis 'Rate my Bike' by Tustel Ico.
500px.com/dolphino
Please 'like' Tustel's image on above link!




Praying Mantis on two spores by Tustel Ico.
500px.com/dolphino




Praying Mantis 'Staring at the Sun' by Tustel Ico
500px.com/dolphino
Please 'like' Tustel's image on above link!





The praying mantis has excellent eyesight and can see up to about 50 feet away. Their eyes are made up of tiny compounds. Praying Mantis by Ronald Beer. www.flickr.com





Praying Mantis by Robert Kalman.
www.flickr.com




Praying Mantis by Robert Kalman.
www.flickr.com





Praying Mantis by Robert Kalman.
www.flickr.com





Praying Mantis devouring another bug by Robert Kalman. Farmers order mantis eggs as they are excellent hunters and copious consumers of moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects. www.flickr.com

Gambian Spotted-eye flower mantis (Pseudoharpax Virescens)
mogla.tumblr.com





African spiny flower mantis.
By MantidBoy www.flickr.com





African spiny flower mantis.
By Piet Grobler www.flickr.com





Hymenopus coronatus (sub adult female)
By Nicholas Reusen, www.flickr.com




The praying mantis is actually more closely related to the cockroach than to grasshoppers. Mantis by Mantidboy. www.flickr.com




Praying Mantis in Australia taken by Darcy Moore.
www.flickr.com





The praying mantis is the only insect that can rotate its alien-like head almost 180 degrees. Mantis by Mantidboy. www.flickr.com




Indian Mantis By Coolsox,
on Flickr: www.flickr.com




The earliest fossils of the praying mantis are from Oligocene, a geologic epoch dating around 23 to 34 million years ago. Praying Mantis by Kristen. www.flickr.com





A very rare praying mantis posing as a stick insect.
Taken in Malaysia by Jack Intosh.
www.flickr.com




Praying Mantis - S.bicornis.
By MantidBoy www.flickr.com



Mantodea (or mantises) is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in 15 families.

"The praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that suggests the position of prayer. The larger group of these insects is more properly called the praying mantids. Mantis refers to the genus mantis, to which only some praying mantids belong.

Mantids can turn their heads 180 degrees to scan their surroundings with two large compound eyes and three other simple eyes located between them.

Typically green or brown and well camouflaged on the plants among which they live, mantis lie in ambush or patiently stalk their quarry. They use their front legs to snare their prey with reflexes so quick that they are difficult to see with the naked eye. Their legs are further equipped with spikes for snaring prey and pinning it in place.

Moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, and other insects are usually the unfortunate recipients of unwanted mantid attention. However, the insects will also eat others of their own kind. The most famous example of this is the notorious mating behavior of the adult female, who occasionally eats her mate just after—or even during—mating. Yet this behavior seems not to deter males from reproduction.

Females regularly lay hundreds of eggs in a small case, and nymphs hatch looking much like tiny versions of their parents." nationalgeographic.com



MantidBoy's favorite Forums:
(if you would like to learn more about Mantids.)


www.chelicera.org (Dessicata_UK)
www.phasmidforum.com (Morpheus_UK)
www.ukmantisforums.co.uk (dEsSiCaTa_UK)
www.bugnation.co.uk (dEsSiCaTa_UK)
www.mantidforum.net (Morpheus uk)




Not a Praying Mantis but another wonderful image by Trutel Ico.
'Contest the urge to Plunge' byTustel Ico.
500px.com/dolphino


 

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V. Jean Trefes
Posts: 5

Praying Mantis
Reply #5 on : Sun March 24, 2013, 15:06:08

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Photography is amazing!!! And the colors are gorgeous, not to mention the beauty of the insects themselves...which God created!!

susan
Posts: 5

mantis
Reply #4 on : Tue March 19, 2013, 11:42:23

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All creatures great and small God made them all!

Holly
Posts: 5

Wow
Reply #3 on : Thu January 31, 2013, 17:03:04

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Amazing photos. Nature is capable of creating so much beauty in these tiny little creatures.

Robert E. Yorke
Posts: 5

Your Mantis Photos
Reply #2 on : Tue January 22, 2013, 00:30:26

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A marvelous display!

Thank you very much!

Linda Louise Weeks
Posts: 5

fanning you!
Reply #1 on : Sun October 07, 2012, 10:50:59

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thank you, send updates, yay!