All summer grown praying mantis are now ready to mate. These days they are looking for a partner. Males do this without knowing that mating may be the last thing they do because in some cases (not always, not far from that, despite popular belief) they are ingested by females during the sexual act.
The praying mantis – more than 2500 different species are known – is among the most curious and intriguing animals on the planet. They look like aliens. They can detect ultrasound from an ear located on the chest; they have 3-dimensional and color vision thanks to their five eyes; and they are super efficient huntersso much so that they can feed on animals much larger than themselves.
They diet It contains spiders and arthropodsbut also in some cases frogs, lizards, salamander lizards, salamanders, moles, shrews, mice, snakes, soft-shelled turtles, moths, small bats, and even birds. And they are like this ability to imitate For example, it can be passed by bees or wood chips.
The way this carnivorous insect hunts (hence its name as if to pray) has inspired a kind of martial art. this extraordinary speed with which he extended his front legs (just a few milliseconds) allow them to catch flies in flight, and the spines they offer make it nearly impossible to escape from them.
Although the origin of this insect lies in the temperate climatic zones of Asia, North Africa and Europe, its enormous capacity to adapt to almost any climate has led to its spread throughout the world.
Pets and pest control agents
Its preferred habitat is scrub and deciduous woodlands, but it adapts even to life in captivity and can serve as both a pet and pest control agent in orchards and fields.
The most distinctive feature of the praying mantis is its special nature. reproductive cycleIt begins at the end of summer when females begin to secrete higher levels of hormones that attract males to fertilize them. If two or more males unite around a female, they fight to the death until only one remains.
When the male finds the female, he starts a kind of dance.swung around him until he was able to mount it by jumping on his back and hooking up his antennae. After this courtship, fertilization occurs, which consists of the arrival of the male’s spermatophore into the female’s reproductive cavity.
The process takes more than two hours. And when it’s over, it may be what made the praying mantis so famous: In some cases, after mating, the female swallows the male who impregnated her. But this only happens in 13 to 28 percent of cases.. And it happens much more often among captive praying mantises.
The praying mantis cannibalism has a biological explanation. This is because females are extremely aggressive during the mating season and sometimes do not even wait for mating to end. They swallow the male from the head, keeping the parts of the nervous system responsible for fertilization intact.
diary and solitary animal
However, females not only devour the aggressive male, because in this way they extra protein intake this allows the eggs to form properly and to have more in the clutch. so actually With this act of sexual cannibalism, they ensure the future of their generation..
The next step, at the end of pregnancy, Laying 100 to 300 eggsthat the praying mantis protects by secreting a type of foam called ootheca. Spawning is already in the fall and usually takes place in sheltered places such as twigs or leaves trying to hide the eggs from predators.
mantis a lonely animal. In fact, in captivity, several specimens should not be grouped together, as they will kill each other. It is also a diary animal. It spends most of the day sedentary, in harmony with its surroundings to protect itself from predators and at the same time deceive its prey.
They can easily reach a one-year lifespan by shedding about six times during this time. For molting, the praying mantis hangs from a branch and gets rid of the old cuticle layer that sticks out from the front.
Despite their aggression and greed, praying mantis are not dangerous to humans.. They are not poisonous, do not sting, do not carry contagious diseases and although There are species that can reach a length of 25 centimeterstheir jaws are not strong enough to cause serious injury to humans.
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