Praying mantises are an old branch of the insect family tree, sharing ancestors with cockroaches and termites.1Systematic Entomology. The evolutionary history of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea) Their story begins long before dinosaurs dominated the land, and modern mantises arose on the southern supercontinent Gondwana before spreading as the continents broke apart. The mantis on your porch, though, often has a much shorter history, because people moved several species across oceans.2Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia. Recent range expansion of the Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa Linnaeus (Mantodeaz Mantidae), in British Columbia
Mantises Are Cousins of Cockroaches and Termites
Mantises, cockroaches and termites belong to one larger insect group, and termites turn out to be a specialised branch of cockroaches.3PubMed Central. Phylogeny of Dictyoptera: Dating the Origin of Cockroaches, Praying Mantises and Termites with Molecular Data and Controlled Fossil Evidence The mantis line split from the cockroach line about 274 million years ago, in the middle of the Permian period, give or take about 37 million years.4Systematic Entomology. The evolutionary history of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea) The group that includes all living mantises arose much later, around 185 million years ago, in the Jurassic.5Systematic Entomology. The evolutionary history of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea)
The kinship is hard to see because an adult mantis looks nothing like a cockroach. It shows in small details. The narrow, flattened front wings are leathery covers, much like a cockroach’s, and they protect the thin hind wings folded beneath. Both groups also wrap their eggs in a protective case instead of laying them singly, a shared habit that points to a common ancestor. Young nymphs show the resemblance best: their forelegs are still small, so the body looks like a slim, flattened cockroach.
Nobody has DNA from insects that lived hundreds of millions of years ago, so researchers compare the DNA of living species instead. The more differences two groups have, the longer ago they likely shared an ancestor, a bit like a slow clock ticking. Dated fossils anchor that clock to real years, since a fossil proves a group existed by a certain time.
Early mantises likely evolved from a fast-running, ground-dwelling ancestor, only later becoming ambush hunters.6PubMed Central. Many-to-one mapping in Mantodea: camouflage strategy and phylogeny drive strike variation in prey capture with raptorial forelegs Their hearing is older than bats, which appeared about 63 million years ago.7Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Patterns of praying mantis auditory system evolution based on morphological, molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data So mantis hearing first served other purposes, such as finding prey, communicating or avoiding non-bat predators.8Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Patterns of praying mantis auditory system evolution based on morphological, molecular, neurophysiological, and behavioural data
Mantises First Spread From the Ancient Southern Continents
Most modern mantises originated on Gondwana, a southern supercontinent that included today’s South America, Africa, India, Australia and Antarctica, in the Cretaceous period.9PubMed. Reconstructing the origins of praying mantises (Dictyoptera, Mantodea): the roles of Gondwanan vicariance and morphological convergence The first big split among modern mantises happened when South America separated from Africa.10BYU ScholarsArchive. The Origins, Evolution, and Phylogeny of the Praying Mantises (Dictyoptera: Mantodea) Later breakups of Gondwana drove many more splits, which is why each region today has its own mix of mantis lineages.11BYU ScholarsArchive. The Origins, Evolution, and Phylogeny of the Praying Mantises (Dictyoptera: Mantodea)
Mantises did not move only with drifting continents. One Caribbean lineage arrived from Africa and tropical Asia during the Cretaceous.12PubMed Central. A Cretaceous-aged Palaeotropical dispersal established an endemic lineage of Caribbean praying mantises That lineage later died out across its original Old World range and survives only in the Caribbean islands.13PubMed Central. A Cretaceous-aged Palaeotropical dispersal established an endemic lineage of Caribbean praying mantises
The tropics remain the heart of mantis diversity. Tropical Africa is still rich in species: one survey in Cameroon found 62 species, at least five probably new to science.14PubMed Central. First assessment of the biodiversity of praying mantises (Insecta: Mantodea) in Cameroon with DNA barcoding Some species stick to dry lands instead, such as one desert mantis ranging from the Canary Islands to Pakistan.15PubMed Central. Biology, ecology, and biogeography of eremic praying mantis Blepharopsis mendica (Insecta: Mantodea)
A typical North American backyard has far fewer species. Cold winters kill adults and many eggs, so only species whose egg cases survive freezing can live in temperate yards. The local list is short, and several of those few kinds are recent arrivals brought by people.
What Mantis Fossils Show
The earliest mantids trace back to the Jurassic, but their variety really emerged in the Cretaceous, about 145 to 66 million years ago.16Live Science. Eat, Pray, Fossilize? Praying Mantis Fossil Is 110 Million Years Old Cretaceous mantises have been found on four continents, including in limestone from Brazil about 120 million years old.17American Museum Novitates. A Revision of Cretaceous Mantises and Their Relationships, Including New Taxa (Insecta: Dictyoptera: Mantodea) Others were trapped in amber in Lebanon about 125 million years ago, in Myanmar about 100 million years ago, and in New Jersey about 90 million years ago.18American Museum Novitates. A Revision of Cretaceous Mantises and Their Relationships, Including New Taxa (Insecta: Dictyoptera: Mantodea)
Amber is especially valuable for small insects. Sticky tree resin can engulf a tiny body quickly and then harden, sealing it away from air and decay. Fine features such as leg spines and the shape of the head can survive, and those are what help identify a mantis. Soft-bodied insects rarely leave good fossils in ordinary rock, so amber fills gaps that stone cannot, and amber from different places gives snapshots of different times in the Cretaceous.
A fossil date sets a minimum age rather than the moment of origin. The first mantises were almost certainly alive earlier than the oldest fossil found, since few insects ever fossilize. That fits the genetic estimate that the living group arose around 185 million years ago, before the Cretaceous variety appears in rock.
Where the Mantis in Your Yard Probably Came From
The European mantis naturally lives across southern Europe, Africa and Asia.19BULLETIN OF INSECTOLOGY. The complete mitogenome of the european mantis, mantis religiosa, from italy: Implications for the origin of north american mantis population It was accidentally brought to the United States in 1896, near Mt. Airy, Pennsylvania.20brandywine.org. The Invasive Mantis Species It is now common across much of the eastern United States and southern Ontario and Quebec.21Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia. Recent range expansion of the Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa Linnaeus (Mantodeaz Mantidae), in British Columbia Genetic evidence points to western France as the likely source of the Canadian populations.22The Canadian Entomologist. The French connection: DNA barcodes reveal the geographic origin of introduced populations of Mantis religiosa (Mantodea: Mantidae) in southern Quebec and Ontario, Canada
Some were moved on purpose. European mantises were released in southern British Columbia in 1937 and 1938 to control grasshoppers.23Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia. Recent range expansion of the Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa Linnaeus (Mantodeaz Mantidae), in British Columbia Since the late 1990s they have spread north to at least Kamloops and east to Nelson.24Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia. Recent range expansion of the Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa Linnaeus (Mantodeaz Mantidae), in British Columbia
Native mantises pay a price. The Carolina mantis is declining because introduced Chinese, European and Asian jumping mantises eat it and compete for food.25Natural Lands. Praying Mantis ID If you buy mantis egg cases for pest control, you are usually buying a non-native species. Gardeners who want to support native insects can skip buying them.
Telling the common ones apart helps. The Chinese mantis is large and tan-green, often longer than 3 inches, and is one of the biggest mantises in North America. The European mantis is often green or brown and frequently has a dark ringed spot on the inside of each front leg, though color alone is not reliable. The Carolina mantis is smaller and mottled grey-brown, and females have short wings that cannot support flight. Because color varies within a species, confirm with a regional field guide or an identification app, ideally using a clear photo of the front legs.
A mantis is not always a welcome guest. It eats garden pests, but it is a generalist hunter, so it also catches bees, butterflies and other insects that help the garden. Many people assume mantises are legally protected, but there is no general law in the United States protecting them.
Where Each New Mantis Comes From, The Egg Case
A mother mantis wraps her eggs in a covering called an ootheca, or egg case.26PubMed. Natural templates for coiled-coil biomaterials from praying mantis egg cases The case is built mainly from tough fibrous proteins.27PubMed. Natural templates for coiled-coil biomaterials from praying mantis egg cases In some mantises, a female who eats her mate after mating gets nutrients that go into more eggs.28PubMed Central. Sexual cannibalism increases male material investment in offspring: quantifying terminal reproductive effort in a praying mantis It does not happen at every mating, and hungry females are the likelier ones to do it.
You can find egg cases on twigs, fences, shrub stems and house siding during fall and winter, when leaves are gone. They look like tan, hardened foam, roughly walnut-sized or smaller depending on the species. Leave a case where you found it so it can hatch on its own in spring, since moving it risks harming the eggs. Dozens to hundreds of tiny nymphs can emerge at about the same time, then scatter quickly.
Young mantises start life in disguise. Newly hatched nymphs of many species mimic ants, which predators avoid.29Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. The defensive behaviour of Ghanaian praying mantids with a discussion of territoriality Young orchid mantises first copy a poisonous assassin bug, then shift to looking like a flower.30PubMed Central. Evolutionary genomics of camouflage innovation in the orchid mantis
How Mantises Came to Look So Strange
The lower part of the foreleg is the part that has changed fastest across mantis evolution.31PubMed. Evolutionary diversification in the raptorial forelegs of Mantodea: Relations to body size and depth perception Species differ in spines to match prey: thin, closely spaced spines suit small insects, while sturdier ones grip varied prey.32PubMed Central. Morphology and material composition of raptorial foreleg cuticles in praying mantises Gongylus gongylodes and Sphodromantis lineola
The folded pose is not a gesture of calm. It keeps the spiny legs cocked for a strike, and it gave the insect its common name and its reputation for patience. When prey comes within reach, the legs shoot out fast enough to snag flying insects, and the spines pin the catch so it cannot escape. Mantises have even been recorded catching small birds on every continent except Antarctica.33The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Bird Predation By Praying Mantises: A Global Perspective Most reports of this involve hummingbirds at feeders, where birds hover within reach of a waiting mantis. The large introduced species are often involved because they are big enough to grab a bird. These events are uncommon but real. Gently moving a mantis to a nearby plant away from the feeder does it no harm.
Disguises are just as varied. Mantises have evolved to mimic flowers, moss, lichen, leaves, grass, sticks, ants, wasps and even rocks.34PubMed Central. Many-to-one mapping in Mantodea: camouflage strategy and phylogeny drive strike variation in prey capture with raptorial forelegs The orchid mantis looks like a flower to pollinators and attracts them even more than real flowers do.35PubMed. Pollinator deception in the orchid mantis Grass-mimicking body shapes evolved independently several times.36PubMed. Evolutionary diversification in the raptorial forelegs of Mantodea: Relations to body size and depth perception
Where the Name Praying Mantis Comes From
The scientific name comes from Greek words meaning prophet and form, coined in 1838.37Wikipedia. Mantis Praying refers to the prayer-like way they fold their forelegs.38Wikipedia. Mantis The upright, still posture looked like someone in prayer or divination, and ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Assyrians credited mantises with supernatural powers.39Wikipedia. Mantis Strictly, mantid refers to one family, while mantis is used loosely for the whole group.