Praying Mantis Mating Habits

Series Summary

Mantodea, or mantises, is an order of insects that has approximately 2,000 species as a part of nine families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. A colloquial term for the order is "praying mantises" because of the typica prayer-like stance of the insects. Mantises are exclusively predatory and their diet usually consists of living insects. In this free video series, an entomologist provides information about the life cycle of a praying mantis. Discover facts about praying mantises, such as their mating habits, diet and how to care for a praying mantis. Find out how to raise, breed and feed a praying mantis as well.

Video Transcript

"I'm Mike Quinn; been an entomologist for twenty years, and we're here at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower center, in Austin, Texas, talking about praying mantid mating habits. And one of the best known aspects of praying mantis mating habits is that the female occasionally will eat the male, and this does happen, but it's probably not the norm. But, when it does happen usually the female is undernourished, and the male becoming a meal for the female helps nourish the eggs that he helped fertilize, and so they will help the, help the young. But typically, a normal situation; male approaches the female and if everything goes right he'll get on her back and grab her prothorax and then they'll start mating, and shortly thereafter she'll lay a foamy mass that hardens up, and they can be a hundred praying mantid eggs in that. And that's how praying mantids mate."