article

Mantidae is the largest family of the Mantodea order of insects. They are commonly known as praying mantis (or preying mantis). They are so named for their "prayer-like" stance. (The word mantis in Greek means prophet.) There are approximately 2,000 species world-wide; most are tropical or subtropical.

Many species are found in North America, three of them are most common: the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis), and the Carolina mantis (Stagomantis carolina). Of these, only the last is native to the continent - the European and Chinese species were introduced around the 1900s as garden predators in an attempt to control pest populations.

Image:Mantis_ootheca.jpg|A mantis Ootheca Image:Mantis_wynaad.jpg|A mantis from the Western Ghats

Subfamilies

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mantidae".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world