Types of mantis: description, names, features and interesting facts

Mantis - predatory insects, received such an interesting name for a special "prayer" posture, which is taken in the process of tracking down the prey. Suffice it long ago they were ranked among cockroaches because of the similarity of signs, but eventually they were assigned to a separate troop of Bogomolovs.

External characteristics of mantis

On the planet there are more than 2 thousand species of mantis, and all of them radically differ among themselves in color and way of life. How to determine the type of mantis? Outwardly, representatives of the order of the Bogomolovs have many similar characteristics: a small triangular head, very mobile, with well-developed eyes, a narrow body, articulate limbs. Available front fenders, equipped with an intricate pattern, insects are often used for protection; In the case of an approaching danger, they are widely plowed up, rather than frightened off by the enemy. Transparent rear wings are required for flying. Sometimes there are completely wingless or short-winged specimens. How to determine the type of mantis?

Specificity of insect

The most specific feature of such a unique insect is its coloration, which coincides with the coloration of individual elements of its habitat: stones, grass, flowers, and leaves of trees. Mantises of yellow and brown and green color are most common, accounting for 80% of their total number. Immobile mantis in the natural environment is almost impossible to see. The insect can give out its presence only by movement.

The mantis slowly moves, but in case of danger it can very quickly move to a safe distance and then freeze in place. Because the beloved pose of such a unique insect is wait and see. Like spiders, mantises are the horsemen, ready to wait patiently for a day, unwillingly waiting for a careless gag.

Mantis lead a solitary life. Activity manifests more in the afternoon, as the potential victim is tracked visually. It is because of prolonged waiting that the overwhelming number of insects has a patronizing coloring, and some specimens are a special form of the body. For example, the mantis species that live in the grass are green and resemble a blade of grass, brown-mottled insects look like dry twigs. In the mantis Choerododis stalii, the native tiny specks simulate damage to the leaf plate of the plant. Tropical species of mantises, waiting for their prey in flowers, have a curved abdomen shape and flat lobes on their paws, reminiscent of flower petals. Especially striking is the adaptability to natural colors. Orchid mantis, which at a young age has a white color, grows pink as it grows up, completely indistinguishable from the flower.

Mantis: the most common species

The most common are mantis. In Russia, the species of such insects are found mostly in the steppe regions, as well as in the south of Siberia, the North Caucasus, the Far East, South Africa, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. There also lives a wood mantis from the genus Hierodula and the spotted mantis (Iris polystictica). In the southern regions of Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Empuza mantis, which is characterized by large dimensions (about 6.5 cm in length), a pointed triangular head and a protruding long growth in front, was adapted. Preferred open shrub spaces, most active in the dark. Larvae appear in the summer and immediately switch to feeding butterflies and filly. In the southern regions of Russia, a mantis of the genus Bolivaria is often found. By the way, Bolivarians, spotted-wing mantises and empuzi in some places become rare representatives of the animal world due to the destruction of dense herbage in the plowing of steppe lands.

Desert types of mantises, whose names are difficult to remember for the average inhabitant, are characterized by small size and similarity with the ants in the process of movement. Bright representatives are Rivetina (Rivetina and Armena).

Habitat

Praying mantis can live as on the upper tiers of trees and shrubs, and at the very surface of the earth, in the grass. Thanks to well-developed wings, the insect can fly, moreover, in flight only males are rushing. If there is enough food, the mantis can live on the tree for the rest of his days.

Being heat-loving by nature, the most comfortable mantises feel in the tropical and subtropical zone. It is there, in stony deserts and wet forests, that the greatest number of varieties of such an insect occurs. In cold climates, predators tend to live in the warmest regions: dry meadows and steppes.

Features of food

Almost all kinds of mantises feed on insects, representatives of the tropics prefer lizards and frogs. For a day the mantis is able to eat 7 small cockroaches, spending on chewing each about half an hour. In the process of eating, it is consistent: first chews soft parts, and then shifts to harder parts. The norm of life for them is cannibalism, manifested sometimes at the most inopportune moment. It is noticed that the female mantis after mating often eats her chosen one. In order not to appear in the stomach of her lady, the partner performs a ritual dance before the act of copulation, adjusting the female to a peace-loving mood.

Mating of tropical mantises is carried out all year round, the types of mantis of the temperate belt unite in a single impulse in the autumn period. The female is able to postpone up to four hundred eggs for several times. The site of the masonry chooses any suitable surface: the stalk of grass, twigs of trees, sand. Each mound is dipped into a foamy mass, when frozen, forming a capsule of gray, brown or sand color. Maturation of eggs lasts from 3 weeks to six months. In temperate climates, eggs experience hibernation. Mantis nymphs differ from adult insects only by the absence of wings; The shape of the body is exactly the same, as is the gluttony. Adult individuals develop very quickly and in the process of growing up they can survive about fifty worms.

Intimidate the enemy

Mantis - peace-loving insects, but before the approaching danger become in an unfriendly "hunting" pose. For greater intimidation, sounds can be made: rustle the wings, snap your feet. If this does not have any effect on the enemy, fly away or rush at the enemy and bite him. And in the attack on the enemy, in an attempt to prick him forward, he puts forward his grasping legs. Enemies of mantises are chameleons, snakes, birds. Today, praying mantises are becoming more popular and in demand animals in domestic insectaria.