[xoxoxoBruce]

Praying mantises are predatory insects that use their powerful raptorial (prey catching) front legs to snatch and hold other small animals. While the smaller species predominantly feed on insects and other invertebrates, the very large species will sometimes capture small vertebrates such as frogs and lizards.
The name ‘praying’ originates from the pose they hold their front legs in – as if they were praying. This name is sometimes confused with the fact that they capture prey and are erroneously referred to as ‘preying’ mantises.

Here she is munching a cockroach.
It must be tasty because it’s half gone and she hasn’t even chosen the wine to pair with it.

Praying mantises are egg-laying insects and lay their eggs within a protective case called an ootheca. Each ootheca contains a number of eggs, up to 200 with some species. Mantis eggs can take anywhere from 40 days to around five months to hatch. The tiny hatchlings emerge as worm-like larvae and almost immediately moult their exoskelton to become tiny functional mantis nymphs. These nymphs are tiny replicas of the adults, but lack wings. They are predatory and within a day of hatching are looking for their first meal. They grow by shedding their exoskeleton many times, ultimately maturing into the adult form. Only adult mantises have wings, but not all species are able to fly. Generally the males are the best flyers, using that ability to locate females in order to mate.

There's an ongoing debate whether the male of any species is controlled by the big head or the little head.
Here we see the female has already eaten the male’s big head and front legs but the little head will
continue mating for up to 12 hours.
That settles that.

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