Mantodea (mantises)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Phylum: Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda > Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Polyneoptera > Dictyoptera (cockroaches, mantises and termites)

Mantis laying ootheca (photo. N. Larsen).

Unidentified species photographed in Newlands Forest (photo. H. Robertson).

Praying mantises evolved from cockroach-like ancestors and you could regard a mantis as being merely a predatory cockroach. In fact the orders Mantodea (mantises) and Blattodea (cockroaches) are sometimes combined into a single order called the Dictyoptera. Like cockroaches, praying mantises lay their eggs in batches called oothecae. In the mantises these oothecae are not carried around but usually stuck down to some surface such as the side of a rock or , in a suburban environment, in the corner of a window frame. Being one of the hemimetabolous orders of insects, the immature stages of praying mantises look like small forms of the adults (except they do not have functional wings), and they do not pass into a pupal stage at maturity.

Further Reading