# TEACH ME MANTIS THINGS!!



## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

I have recently become obsessed with mantises and I want to learn everything I can about them. So far, the only sub-species I know well is the orchid mantis. TEACH ME MORE THINGS, PLEASE!!!!


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 8, 2021)

-The female mantis lays her eggs in a thick froth which hardens into a foam-like mass attached to a wall or other vertical surface. 
- After mating, the female will often chew off the male's head and then cannibalize him.
- They're strong biters. Careful if trying to handle them.


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

Thank you! Got any more? I must learn... I must become omniscient in all things mantis!


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 8, 2021)

You only know about the Orchid Mantis? 
The praying mantis (big green swipey bitey thing) is usually the more familiar to people. Where do you live?


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

I know about multiple mantis types but I've only really studied the orchid mantis. Probably should've specified that XD


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 8, 2021)

Mantis - Wikipedia
					






					en.m.wikipedia.org
				



Basic overview


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

Thank you for your knowledge


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## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 8, 2021)

I don't actually have much, but you're welcome


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

Eh. Any knowledge is welcome!


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## Pygmepatl (Jan 8, 2021)

Don't know if this might serve, but the way mantises hatch is fascinating and scary!








Spoiler


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

Pygmepatl said:


> Don't know if this might serve, but the way mantises hatch is fascinating and scary!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I read that the eggs mantids hatch from are called ootheca and can hatch as many as 100 mantis children at a time! I assume that means they hatch similar to spiders. The mantis children are called Nymphs!


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## Mambi (Jan 8, 2021)

Alys_0_0 said:


> I have recently become obsessed with mantises and I want to learn everything I can about them. So far, the only sub-species I know well is the orchid mantis. TEACH ME MORE THINGS, PLEASE!!!!



I know mantis style kung-fu, does that count? <lol>


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 8, 2021)

Lol that's cool! Sure I suppose that counts as mantis things!


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## Faustus (Jan 13, 2021)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> - After mating, the female will often chew off the male's head and then cannibalize him.


Actually, like the black widow spider, this reputation is only partly deserved. It has been observed that sexual cannibalism in mantids mostly happens when the female is disturbed. Male mantises often get to keep their heads. Interestingly, the act of procreation is inhibited by something in the mantis' head, so biting it off actually makes him even more fervent!

(If you think that's bad, when a male honey bee mates with a virgin queen, his penis (endophallus) actually breaks off in her vagina, causing a fatal rupture in his abdomen. The next hopeful male then has to pull his detached dong out before it can perform the same suicidal act.)

If an orchid mantis is removed from its flower and placed on a different one of a different colour, it will leave and look for a better colour match.


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## Faustus (Jan 13, 2021)

The eye of a mantis contains a small clump of differently-coloured and more highly sensitive cells at the centre that look similar to a human pupil. This gives them more accurate binocular vision than most insects without sacrificing the benefit of near-360 degree vision. Its agile neck also allows it to turn its head in a wide arc to focus more accurately on prey all around it.


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 13, 2021)

Thank you for bestowing your knowledge upon me!


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## zandelux (Jan 15, 2021)

This is really more of a language factoid than a mantis factoid, but here goes:

The word for praying mantis in Japanese is kamakiri (かまきり), which means "scythe cutter". Funny story, I was hanging out with a friend harvesting rice by hand in Japan, as like a cultural experience thing. We were cutting the rice stalks with scythes, which is how the word came up, and we learned that factoid. Then an actual praying mantis flew/jumped? onto my friend and we got a picture of her imitating a "scythe cutter" with a real one on her arm! I might still have that somewhere.

Also, that may be where Scyther the Pokemon's name comes from.


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## Alyx_0_0 (Jan 15, 2021)

That's a really cool experience!! Thank you for your knowledge, oh wise one!


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## Xitheon (Jan 15, 2021)




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