PRAYING MANTID

Some of the developmental stages of a common mantid: a, egg mass attached to stem; b, newly hatched nymphs; c, large nymph; d, adult female feeding on grasshopper. (All stages about natural size.)

PRAYING MANTID

Several kinds of praying mantids flourish in the United States. Two large, conspicuous species of Asiatic and European origins came into this country more than 50 years ago, presumably on nursery stock. Now they are quite commonly found in the Northeast. The Asiatic form, the larger, is about 3 inches long when full-grown.

Praying mantids have curious habits and odd structures. They got their name from the unusual way they hold up the forepart of the body and stout forelegs as if in prayer. They have no sting. The dark-colored saliva they eject from their mouths is harmless.

The species in the Northeast have one generation a year. The eggs are deposited during the fall in a soft mass about 1 inch or more in diameter on brambles, stems of grass, or the branches of low bushes. This braided-appearing, frothy mass hardens into a fibrous substance and becomes darker in color. Each female can deposit several egg masses, each containing about 50 eggs. Shortly after laying the eggs, she dies.

Hatching occurs the following spring when insect material is available for food.

The mantid sheds its skin several times before it becomes mature in late summer. It is usually light-colored during the early stages and becomes darker with age. The full-grown females are larger and more robust than the males and have large, distended abdomens.

The mantids, their forelegs raised in front of their heads, are to be found on foliage and flowers frequented by various insects. They resemble somewhat the color of the foliage or flowers around them. Quietly they await the approach of any insect. Then with a quick movement they grasp the prey with their forelegs, which have rows of sharp teeth for holding the insect, and devour it. The young stages feed on aphids, small caterpillars, flies, and other soft-bodied insects. The older mantids are able to capture larger insects; when they are full-grown they can kill and devour beetles, caterpillars, wasps, and other large insects.

Mantids usually are considered beneficial insects because they destroy many insect pests. They do capture and devour honey bees and other beneficial insects, however. Mantids are not abundant enough in any one locality to be of any great value in the control of insect pests.