European Mantis: Beneficial Bug, Connecticut State Insect, Garden Gate Icon

Summary: Garden Gate magazine’s October 2014 issue adds Garden Gate icon to the roles of the European mantis as beneficial bug and Connecticut state insect.

adult male European mantis caught in cobweb, Saône-et-Loire department, east central France; Thursday, Sep. 11, 2008, 10:53: Abalg, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Beneficial bug, Connecticut state insect and Garden Gate icon in the From the WILD SIDE department are descriptions that apply to the European mantis as of Garden Gate magazine’s October 2014 issue.

European mantis life cycles and natural histories become observable, from March through October, east of the Great Plains and of their geographic extension northward and southward. Popularity with an Active Interest Media, Inc. publication, with Connecticuters and with master gardeners and master naturalists comes from the predatory reputation of the European mantis. The common names praying mantis and preying mantis and the scientific name Mantis religiosa (religious prophet) describe the prayerful-looking European mantis before, during and following mealtimes.

Mealtimes eliminate invertebrate and vertebrate pests in planned and wild European mantis gardens of eastern North America, from northern Mexico all the way through southern Canada.

Niches in landscapes layered from cover plants to garden edibles and ornamentals, lawn and meadow grasses and wildflowers and woody plants fill European mantis habitat needs. They give the color, the food, the humidity, the shelter and the temperatures that sustain the European mantis metamorphosing incompletely through egg, immature and mature stages.

Mating happens as a one-time event, either during autumn or during spring, in lifespans of less than one year in planned and wild European mantis gardens. The outcome is the deposit of 50 to 200 eggs in a foamy, white pouch, formally termed an ootheca (egg receptacle), that quickly darkens and hardens.

Atmospheric humidity of at least 40 to 60 percent joins temperature ranges of 73.4 to 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit (23 to 28 degrees Celsius) to jumpstart hatchlings.

The ootheca generally keeps the European mantis eggs predator-free when attached to buildings and twigs, except when dislodged to the ground and swarmed by egg-loving ants. It lets non-overwintering hatchlings out, after two to eight weeks, during that year’s summer and overwintering hatchlings out, after four months, during the next year’s spring. It may take two hours for hatchlings to exit by way of tiny flaps and 2-inch (5.08-centimeter) strings from the ootheca, whose shape hatching leaves unchanged. Environmental color, humidity and temperature as well as genetic traits need to be considered when sorting the unpredictably brown, green, red or white colors of hatchlings.

Cannibalism occurs as much and as often among hatchlings, when such garden pests and soft-bodied prey as aphids are not readily available, as among mating adults.

The adult European mantis preys upon invertebrates by ambush-hunting aphids, bees, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, crickets, flies, gnats, grasshoppers, mites, mosquitoes, moths, spiders, termites and ticks. A mouth that paralyzes prey being eaten alive, a neck that turns 180 degrees each way and two spine-lined forelegs qualify adults for expert predator status.

Abdominal segments, antennae dimensions, body size, reproductive parts, thorax shape, transportation mode and wing length reveal gender on 1.97- to 2.95-inch- (5- to 7.5-centimeter-) long adults. As of the fourth of eight exoskeleton-molting instars, males showcase eight, not six, abdominal segments, slimmer mid-sections, thicker antennae and workable wings for flying, not walking.

Ants, bats and broad-spectrum pesticide-wielders turn out to be worst-case enemies of males that fly and females that cannot in planned and wild European mantis gardens.

ootheca of European mantis (Mantis religiosa); Sardinia, Italy; Friday, April 25, 2008, 17:33: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

adult male European mantis caught in cobweb, Saône-et-Loire department, east central France; Thursday, Sep. 11, 2008, 10:53: Abalg, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mantis_religiosa_(AF)_left_01.jpg

ootheca of European mantis (Mantis religiosa); Sardinia, Italy; Friday, April 25, 2008, 17:33: Hans Hillewaert, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mantis_religiosa_(egg_case).jpg

For further information:

Animal Planet. 2 December 2008. "Nature's Perfect Predators-Praying Mantis." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hGuallLPcM

“European Mantid: Mantis religiosa.” The Nature Conservancy > News & Features > Special Features > Animal Species Profiles > Insects.
Available @ http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/specialfeatures/animals/insects/european-mantid.xml

“European Mantis (Mantis religiosa): State Insect.” State of Connecticut > Sites, Seals, Symbols.
Available @ http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392608

“The European or ‘Praying’ Mantis (Mantis religiosa).” ConneCT Kids > State Symbols > Connecticut State Symbols Pages > Living Creatures > State Insect.
Available @ http://www.kids.ct.gov/kids/cwp/view.asp?Q=314184

Hill, Stephanie A. June 2007. “Sound Generation in Mantis religiosa (Mantodea: Mantidae): Stridulatory Structures and Acoustic Signal.” Journal of Orthoptera Research 16(1): 35-49. Dx.doi.org/10.1665/1082-6467(2007)16[35:SGIMRM]2.0.CO;2
Available @ http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1665/1082-6467%282007%2916%5B35%3ASGIMRM%5D2.0.CO%3B2

Maki, Mackenzie. September 2013. “Common Praying Mantis: Mantis religiosa (Order Mantodea; Family Mantidea).” Ninnescah Life > Guide to Species > Insects > Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa).
Available @ http://ninnescahlife.wichita.edu/node/691

“Mantis religiosa: Praying Mantis.” Encyclopedia of Life.
Available @ http://eol.org/pages/487055/overview

Milne Outdoor Centre @MilneOEC. 3 October 2014. "Praying Mantis spotted by Parkwood Grade Twos 30.09.2014." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/MilneOEC/status/518020820904738816

Raupp, Mike; Traunfeld, Jon; and Sargent, Chris. “Predators: Praying Mantid (Mantis).” University of Maryland Extension > Grow It Eat It > Resources > Pollinators/Natural Enemies > Natural Enemies > Predators.
Available @ https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/insects/predators-praying-mantid-mantis

Watkins, Gary; and Bessin, Ric. “Praying Mantids.” Entomology at the University of Kentucky > Insect & Pest Info > Landscape Pests.
Available @ https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef418