![]() Mantises have two spiked, grasping forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. Mantises also are unique to the Dictyoptera in that they have tympanate hearing, with two tympana in an auditory chamber in their metathorax. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movements of the head and fore limbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile. In all species apart from the genus Mantoida, the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible some species of mantis can rotate their heads nearly 180°. They have two bulbous compound eyes, three small simple eyes, and a pair of antennae. Mantises have large, triangular heads with a beak-like snout and mandibles. However, as previously configured, the Mantidae and Thespidae especially were considered polyphyletic, so the Mantodea have been revised substantially as of 2019 and now includes 29 families. Klass, in 1997, studied the external male genitalia and postulated that the families Chaeteessidae and Metallyticidae diverged from the other families at an early date. One of the earliest classifications splitting an all-inclusive Mantidae into multiple families was that proposed by Beier in 1968, recognizing eight families, though it was not until Ehrmann's reclassification into 15 families in 2002 that a multiple-family classification became universally adopted. The vernacular plural "mantises" (used in this article) was confined largely to the US, with "mantids" predominantly used as the plural in the UK and elsewhere, until the family Mantidae was further split in 2002. The other common name, praying mantis, applied to any species in the order (though in Europe mainly to Mantis religiosa), comes from the typical " prayer-like" posture with folded forelimbs. The name mantid properly refers only to members of the family Mantidae, which was, historically, the only family in the order. The order is occasionally called the mantes, using a Latinized plural of Greek mantis. It was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister. The name mantodea is formed from the Ancient Greek words μάντις ( mantis) meaning "prophet", and εἶδος ( eidos) meaning "form" or "type". Kristensen (1991) combined the Mantodea with the cockroaches and termites into the order Dictyoptera, suborder Mantodea. Mantises, along with stick insects ( Phasmatodea), were once placed in the order Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and ice crawlers (now Grylloblattodea). ![]() The systematics of mantises have long been disputed. They are predominantly found in tropical regions, but some live in temperate areas. Over 2,400 species of mantis in about 430 genera are recognized. Mantises are among the insects most commonly kept as pets. A cultural trope popular in cartoons imagines the female mantis as a femme fatale. Mantises were considered to have supernatural powers by early civilizations, including ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, and Assyria. Females sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, eating their mates after copulation. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the spring. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in autumn, then die. Mantises are mostly ambush predators, but a few ground-dwelling species are found actively pursuing their prey. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects ( Phasmatodea), other elongated insects such as grasshoppers ( Orthoptera), or other more distantly related insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies ( Mantispidae). The closest relatives of mantises are termites and cockroaches ( Blattodea), which are all within the superorder Dictyoptera. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). ![]() ![]() Mantises are an order ( Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families.
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