European mantis

Mantis religiosa
Praying Mantises (Mantidae)

♂

European mantison RikenMon's Nature-Guide

CC-BY-SA 4.0 rights : RikenMon

Grass green or dark brown coloured long body, long sturdy front legs that can be reddish, a triangular shaped very agile head. The other legs are long and thin and the unused front legs are folded giving the appearance of praying. The ♂ is smaller than the ♀, but their antennae are visible longer, up to 1/3 of the body length, the ♀ has very short antennae. They have wings but only the ♂ uses them occasionally. 

They are carnivorous and after breeding sometimes the ♂ gets eaten by its mate for extra food.

⇔ l. 40-80 mm
 
syn. Praying Mantis

They cannot jump and are not related to the grasshopper but closer to the cockroach.

LA:
In central and north Europe this is the only species, but in southern Europe, there are more.
≈ Like the EMPUSA PENNATA (Conehead mantis) with its conical shaped head. See photo LA.

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