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European praying mantis
European praying mantis
- THAT'S ME
- FACTS
- ST.MARTINS
- MULTIMEDIA
- QUIZ
Dear explorer, Dear explorers!
You probably won't see me at first glance. I am very well camouflaged and sit calmly on various plants. No, I don't take a nap there - quite the opposite - I wait there very attentively until a potential prey animal comes along and I can fill my belly. But now I don't want to keep you any longer. Just read more interesting facts about me and my conspecifics on the following pages.
Your praying mantis
(Mantis)
Image credit: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Header image credit: Image by Cosmin Nedelcu on Pixabay
Worth knowing
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Length of male: up to 60 mm,
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Length females up to 80 mm
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Life expectancy: semelpar, i.e. they only reproduce once in their lifetime and all adults die before winter, while only the eggs overwinter and the larvae do not hatch until the following spring.
Appearance
The European praying mantis grows up to 80 mm in size, whereby the males are significantly smaller and reach a length of up to 60 mm. Their coloration varies from light green to brown. Depending on the surrounding color, the basic color of the insects changes after moulting.
Image credit: Clément Bardot, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Image credit: Image by Dániel Méhes on Pixabay
Food
The European praying mantis is an ambush hunter. As an insectivore, it mainly feeds on grasshoppers, crickets, flies and wood cockroaches in Austria.
Reproduction
Picture credits: © Hans Hillewaert
European praying mantises are semelparous, i.e. they only reproduce once in their lifetime and all adults die before winter. Like many other mantises, the European praying mantis also practises sexual cannibalism, i.e. the male is eaten by the female in the wild during or after mating.
After mating, the females lay their eggs in a well-camouflaged egg package, the so-called ootheca. The hardened mass of foam can contain up to 200 eggs, which survive the cold season protected in dense vegetation, under stones or on rocks. The tiny, barely visible young hatch in May.
Distribution
Originally from Africa, Mantis religiosa was able to spread after the ice ages across the Mediterranean region to Central Europe as far as southern Germany and Poland and across large parts of the "Old World". Today, its natural range extends across Poland and Ukraine to the coast of the Sea of Japan and Japan. Southwards, the range encompasses the whole of Africa and reaches the Lesser Sunda Islands in Asia. The spread in North America since the anthropogenic introduction at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is well documented. Mantis religiosa is only missing in South America and Australia.
Habitat, way of life
It prefers sunny regions with high or semi-high vegetation such as vineyards or dry meadows as its habitat.
Hazards
The European praying mantis is considered endangered in Austria.
Where to find
Praying mantises can be found and observed on the dry grasslands, meadows and pastures of the Sehwinkel. However, as they can be very well camouflaged, you have to keep your eyes open.
