Order Mantodea

COMMON NAMES: MANTIDS OR PRAYING MANTIDS

The Mantodea are medium to large, elongate insects with front legs modified for grasping. They have chewing mouthparts. The head appears to sit on an elongated neck. Eyes are large. Wings are generally well developed with forewings being elongated and leathery while the hindwings are broader, membranous and folded under the forewings when at rest. Metamorphosis is gradual, the life stages being the egg, nymph, and adult. Praying mantids are considered to be beneficial in that they feed on other insects.

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Examples

		From display case in Waters Hall
		Family: Oligonychinae Oligonicella scudderi (Saussure) Size: 1 1/4 (32 mm) Hatitat: Attracted to lights at night.
**most of the images included in these pages are from the 'Insects in Kansas' Book. They are freely available for student and noncommercial use (according to their copyright agreement with each photographer) at the PDIS image site, http://www.pdis.org/default.aspx

For additional information on Mantodea, check out the following websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantodea
• http://tolweb.org/Mantodea/8213
• http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/orders/mantodea.html