OCTOBER 2017 • NEBRASKAland 45
through a single opening on their thorax
between their legs. While hearing
may not be critical for many phases of
their lives, praying mantises rely on
hearing to help avoid being eaten by
bats. Male mantises fly at night when
tracking down females (by following
pheromone trails) and some species of
mantises use flight as a way to disperse
to new habitats. During nighttime
flights, a mantis can hear the sounds of
bat echolocation and can take evasive
action to avoid being caught while
flying. When it hears an approaching
bat, the mantis can turn sharply or go
into a steep spiral dive to the ground.
A Unique Insect
There is a lot about praying mantises
you probably don't know about if you're
not an entomologist. However, one
thing you do know about them might
actually be less true than you thought.
Many people have heard anecdotes
about female mantises decapitating
males during mating. While that
behavior does occur, it is most common
in captivity. Research shows that males
might lose their lives to females during
only about a quarter of mating events
in the wild, and scientists argue about
how much of that cannibalism might
be affected by the presence of human
observers.
Regardless, after mating, praying
mantises lay their eggs inside a frothy
mass produced by glands on the
female's abdomen. That froth hardens
into the approximate consistency of
Styrofoam and provides insulating
protection to the eggs over the winter
until the eggs hatch in the spring. Each
mantis species has its own unique
ootheca (egg case) design, and those of
the Chinese mantis can contain up to
400 eggs.
Each spring, tiny nymphs emerge
from those mantis eggs and start
wandering around prairies, woodlands,
and yards across Nebraska. If you
see one in your neighborhood, take
a minute to appreciate how unique,
beautiful and fascinating praying
mantises really are.
They can be a lot of fun to watch – as
long as you're not on their menu list.
■
The largest of Nebraska's mantises, the Chinese mantis, seen here feeding on a hawk or sphinx moth,
can reach lengths of 4
1
⁄2 inches.
Chris Helzer is
the Director of
Science for The
Nature
Conservancy in
Nebraska. He has
been a contributor
to NEBRASKAland
since 1994.
Chris blogs at prairieecologist.com. l i t