European Mantis (Mantis religiosa)

European Mantis overview

The European mantis is the original praying mantis, the species that gave the group its name for the way it holds its spiked forelegs folded as if in prayer. It is a green or brown ambush predator of sunny, grassy places, waiting motionless before striking prey in a fraction of a second. A black-ringed spot on the inside of each foreleg base sets it apart from similar mantises. It has one generation a year: eggs overwinter in a hardened foam case, nymphs hatch in late spring, and the adults die with the first cold weather. It was accidentally introduced to North America in 1899.

How Long Do European Mantises Live?

A European mantis lives about 6–8 months after hatching, or roughly a year counting the winter it spends as an egg. Nymphs hatch in late spring, molt about six to eight times and become adults in mid to late summer. Adults survive two to three months and are killed by the first hard frosts, so no adults overwinter in cold climates.

How Much Does a European Mantis Weigh?

Adult European mantises weigh roughly 1–4 g (0.04–0.14 oz). Females heavy with eggs are at the top of that range and are usually too bulky to fly, while the slimmer males weigh much less and fly readily, especially at night in search of mates.

How Long Is a European Mantis?

European mantises are 6–9 cm (2.4–3.5 in) long. Females measure about 7–9 cm and males about 6–7 cm, and females are noticeably broader in the abdomen. Both sexes have long wings that cover the abdomen, and they come in green and brown color forms that match their surroundings.

How Long Do European Mantises Eggs Take to Hatch?

European mantis eggs take about 7–9 months to hatch, because they are laid in early autumn and pass the winter in diapause. The female whips up a foam that hardens into a tough case called an ootheca, holding roughly 100–200 eggs. The nymphs all emerge together in late spring once temperatures rise.

What Do European Mantises Eat?

European mantises eat live insects and spiders, which they grab with a lightning-fast strike of their spiked forelegs. Typical prey includes grasshoppers, crickets, flies, moths and bees. They are generalists that eat helpful pollinators as readily as pests, and they are cannibals at every stage of life.

Diet type: insectivore. Live insects and spiders caught by ambush, including grasshoppers, crickets, flies, moths, butterflies and bees. Small nymphs start on aphids and tiny flies, and mantises will also eat each other.

Where Do European Mantises Live?

European mantises live in warm, sunny, open habitats with tall grass or shrubs: meadows, dry grassland, scrub, vineyards, field margins and gardens. The species ranges across southern and central Europe, Africa and Asia, and has spread northward in Europe in recent decades. In North America it is common in the Northeast and Great Lakes region.

Are European Mantises Endangered?

The European mantis is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is widespread and has been expanding northward in central Europe as summers warm, though it is legally protected in some countries, including Germany, where it was long considered rare. Intensive farming and pesticide use are the main local threats.

Least Concern

European Mantis fun facts

• A mantis can turn its head about 180 degrees to look over its shoulder, something very few insects can do.
• Mantises have a single ear, located in a groove on the underside of the thorax, which detects the ultrasonic calls of hunting bats.
• The European mantis is the official state insect of Connecticut, despite being an introduced species there.
• The strike of a mantis's forelegs takes well under a tenth of a second, too fast for the human eye to follow.
• Mantises have stereo vision and judge the distance to prey in 3D, which researchers confirmed by fitting them with tiny 3D glasses.

Rankings and comparisons

European Mantis FAQ

Related animals

All invertebrates