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Mantids: Armed and Dangerous

Mark W. Moffett pursued praying mantids across four continents, and discovered they are among the insect world's craftiest hunters.

/2006/01/praying-mantids/img/1-chinese-baby-mantids-714.jpg /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/1-chinese-baby-mantids-60.jpg Photograph by Mark W. Moffett Tenodera aridifolia sinensis), at right, watches a sibling squeezing out of their communal egg case like toothpaste from a tube. Perhaps 300 baby mantids of this species may hatch from a single case, called an ootheca. The young will grow into master camouflage artists and lightning-quick predators, like all the world's roughly 1,800 species of mantids (often called praying mantises).]]> /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/2-boy-with-chinese-mantid-714.jpg /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/2-boy-with-chinese-mantid-60.jpg Photograph by Mark W. Moffett Tenodera aridifolia sinensis. The same species was accidentally introduced into the United States in 1896 and now is widespread. In China mantids have entertained people for at least a thousand years. Some Asians still wager on caged mantids that fight to the death.]]> /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/3-petrified-mantid-714.jpg /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/3-petrified-mantid-60.jpg Photograph by Mark W. Moffett /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/4-mantid-in-africa-714.jpg /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/4-mantid-in-africa-60.jpg Photograph by Mark W. Moffett Sphodromantis lineola, in Africa's Ivory Coast may be mimicking an ant in size and appearance; its gait also resembles an ant's. Predators such as birds may see ants as toxic prey and avoid them, which benefits the look-alike mantid. Mantids' mimickry helps them hide from a host of predators including bats, toads, spiders, snakes, and small rodents.]]> /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/5-jaws-mantid-475h.jpg /2006/01/praying-mantids/img/5-jaws-mantid-60.jpg Photograph by Mark W. Moffett Deroplatys truncata, on the Malaysian forest floor, the insect rears up in a frightening threat display, rattling its wings. Spine-studded forelimbs folded beneath its head create the illusion of a giant gape.]]>