Stay quietly in the grass, with your two front legs folded together and raised to your chest, as if you were praying reverently—this is the image of the praying mantis we usually see.
However, praying mantises are out-and-out "professional killers". When the other insects entered its attack range, its previous "pious" image immediately disappeared without a trace, and the aggressive and fierce light flashed in its huge eyes, staring at the moving prey deadly, and once the time was ripe, the two large cutter-like front legs shot out like arrows, and buckled heavily on the prey, and the prey had time to do nothing more than twitch a few times or struggle for a while. Next, the praying mantis will use its inconspicuous "small mouth" to dismember and devour the prey little by little until only some organs that are of little value to the praying mantis remain, such as a tentacle, a tarsal limb, or a small wing.
Praying mantises are ferocious, but beautiful and have strange shapes. In temperate regions, the species of praying mantises are relatively small and the size is relatively simple; but in the tropics, the types of praying mantises are much richer, the body size has become strange and complex, and each one is a superb camouflage master, whether it is the flowers, leaves, branches, bark of plants... they are all objects of imitation. With clever camouflage, the praying mantis only needs to lie still, and it is difficult for both predators and prey to find them.
Praying mantises are found almost all over the world, and with the right temperature and abundant food sources, they can live freely. In China, there are more than 100 known mantis species, and there are about 2,000 kinds of mantises in the world, although they are of different sizes and shapes, but they are all authentic "bug killers".
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > first came into the world</h1>
In temperate regions, praying mantises usually breed only once a year, overwintering in the form of egg masses;
In the tropics, praying mantises of all ages can be seen throughout the year. The hatching of eggs is directly related to the temperature, as long as the temperature is right, the eggs begin to develop, and in a very short period of time, the well-developed small mantis - nymphs will emerge from the crowded egg masses. Different species of praying mantises have very different morphological shapes of their egg masses, but they will have two rows of alternating small "roofs" at the top, with small holes at both ends, and if nymphs want to drill out the egg blocks, small holes are their only way.
In the new nymphs, there is no trace of a praying mantis, but more of the appearance of the egg. Soon, they are completely drilled out of the egg block, and a thin wire in the tail is connected to the egg block, suspending the whole body in the air. Almost at the same time, the first metamorphosis began... Breaking free of the shackles of the egg membrane, the little mantis finally showed its true appearance, looking almost the same as its parents, but it had not yet grown wings, and the proportion of its head was also larger.
When the whole body is slightly dry and hard, the little mantis crawls to the nearby branches and leaves to rest for a short time. At this time, the small praying mantises in the juvenile stage are most vulnerable to various attacks, they do not have a strong enough body to protect themselves, and their ability to endure hunger is very limited, in order to fill their stomachs, they often have to travel around, which makes it easy for them to expose themselves to predators. As a result, many praying mantis larvae are unable to grow into adulthood.
For small mantises, juicy aphids are the best food, so numerous that they have little resistance and are easy to catch. Of course, the little mantises are not only soft and afraid of hard, when hungry, they will also attack prey that is about the same size or even bigger as their own body, and at this time they show the fierce appearance of their parents. The small praying mantises are very jumping and their bodies are also very light, and sometimes a gust of wind can blow them tens of meters away or even farther, which also helps them spread to some extent. For them, perhaps there will be a better living environment in another place.
As the body grows, the shell of the little praying mantis becomes harder and harder, and the tolerance for hunger gradually increases, and it will not be a big problem not to eat for seven or eight days. Gradually, they become inactive and stay in one place all day, waiting for their prey to appear...
Constrained by exoskeletons, as long as the small praying mantis does not molt, the body will not grow much. As the baby praying mantis continues to eat, the surface of the body seems calm, but the inside changes violently. As long as the nutrition is good and the time is ripe, the life of the little mantis will open a new page - shedding the old "coat". After getting rid of the old skin, the little mantis's wrinkled new skin is exposed to the air, fully absorbing the moisture, and then stretching out, the little mantis suddenly magically grew a lot. After drying their bodies, they embark on a new journey.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > "killer color"</h1>
Surviving in a brutal natural environment is not an easy task, and praying mantises always make a delicate trade-off between giving and rewarding. After drinking and eating, even heavyweight prey, the praying mantises will not spend a lot of effort to catch, on the contrary, they will retreat in front of the big men who come to the door. If they are hungry for a few meals, the situation is completely different, and even a dead leaf that falls with the wind will arouse their strong desire to prey. At this moment, even the locusts and ants that are bigger than themselves,
Ants
They are also fearless. Of course, the hunting process is not easy, these big guys have a strong physical advantage, their strong hind legs and huge upper jaws are no small test for praying mantises. The praying mantis relies on two powerful "big knives" - predatory feet stuck to the prey, sometimes the fight process will be from the branch to the ground, as long as it is not hit hard, the hungry mantis will swear to subdue the prey.
In the eyes of praying mantises, as long as it is a moving object, it is the object of their capture, there is no distinction, not only insects, frogs, small snakes, small mammals, etc., may become the food of large mantises, and even the same kind is often included in their "menu". During the hunting process, the praying mantis must be very careful, because there are terrible "weapons" of resistance in many kinds of prey, such as the poisonous needles of bees, the jaws of the mantis and the hind legs full of hard thorns... No matter which one is hit, the praying mantis will be life-threatening. Thus, the mantis's specialized predatory feet fully demonstrate their role. The predatory foot is divided into three sections: the two sections at the end are covered with large and small hard thorns, which bite each other very closely, and once the prey is caught, it is difficult to break free; the section connecting the front chest controls the distance between the prey and the body of the praying mantis, which can prevent the prey from being hit by the counterattack.
Interestingly, some of the prey look very powerful, but in fact the outer strength is strong in the middle. For example, a large moth that constantly flaps two pairs of wings that are several times larger than its own body to exaggerate its size, but in fact this appendage does not increase its ability to resist. The praying mantis seems to know this, and although the moths look large, the praying mantis is very interested in them. As soon as the moth's large wings are caught by the mantis's predatory feet, they immediately stop flapping, and the next thing is to let the mantis slaughter them.
When preying on insects, the praying mantis usually first uses two "large knives" to jam the insect's chest, because the insect's center of motion is concentrated on the chest, and once the chest is controlled, the insect cannot move.
However, the angle of the mantis attack is not always ideal, if it is violently resisted by the prey, the mantis is often not in a hurry to eat, but first bites off the resistance weapon of the prey with a powerful jaw, and then quietly and comfortably enjoys the delicacy...
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > in danger</h1>
Although praying mantises are powerful hunters, in nature, they also play the role of predators. Mantises are still insects after all, unable to compete with other more powerful hunters, scorpions, centipedes, lizards, birds of prey, etc. always threaten their survival. If in the struggle with lower opponents such as scorpions and centipedes, there are still victories and losses between each other, then in front of birds of prey, such as falcons or eagles, if the praying mantis is hard, there is not even a little hope of survival.
In the face of ferocious predators, the praying mantis will also pose a threatening posture that has deterred many opponents: suddenly raise the "double knife", erect wings, roll up the abdomen, use four walking feet to support the whole body very high (which makes them look much taller at once), the abdomen and wings rub to make a "hissing, hissing" sound, coupled with some warning patterns on the inside of the front paws, the praying mantises look both tall and terrifying, they hope to scare each other. However, all these means of defense of the praying mantis are actually useless, and the other party only needs to grasp decisively with its claws, or peck with its mouth a few times, and the praying mantis will be "heroically sacrificed" in an instant. However, praying mantises sometimes adopt a "walk-up" strategy and jump into the depths of vegetation...
In addition to those predators who have absolute superiority in physical "hardware", there are also some small enemies that also pose a threat to the survival and reproduction of praying mantises, and the mantis wasp is one of them. Don't look at the small size of the mantis wasps, but the praying mantis can't help them. The mantis will use its needle-shaped egg layer to puncture the mantis's egg shell, then lay eggs inside, and when the larva hatches, it will feed on the mantis's eggs.
In better cases, some of the mantis eggs will survive, but the total annihilation of the army also occurs from time to time. Clematis are another enemy that annoys mantises, and their aggressiveness is also unpreparable to mantises.
Clematis enter the body of the praying mantis with food, sucking their nutrients, causing the praying mantis to stunted and unable to reproduce normally, and in severe cases gradually weaken until death.
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > dangerous proposal</h1>
With the last shedding of the old "coat", the mantis added two pairs of wings, the reproductive system matured, and the body size did not grow much. At this point, they have a new mission – to reproduce.
The mating of praying mantises always reminds people of those violent "foodie" scenes. In fact, the phenomenon of "eaters" is not very common. It is often the case that the male mantis matures earlier than the female mantis, and the mature male mantis will take the initiative to lean forward when he sees the moving female mantis, and the female mantises that are not mature cannot understand the male mantis.1 At this time, if the female mantis is not very hungry, the male mantis, even if it is lucky, is at most a courtship and is rejected; if the female mantis has not eaten for several days, then the male mantis will only pay for its own impulses, and the female mantis will eat it unceremoniously.
If the male mantis has enough patience to wait, it will be a safer "wedding". After the female mantis matures, she will actively release external hormones to attract the opposite sex, and when the male mantis that seeks the "taste" carefully leans forward, the female mantis will appear very "delicate". At this time, the experienced male mantis will jump up before entering the "dangerous distance", quickly jump to the back of the female mantis, and use its front paws to tightly clasp the root of the female mantis's wings, while bending the abdomen to mate with it. The mating process can take as little as 20 minutes and as much as three or four hours. After mating, the male mantis will quickly jump away. After a break, the male mantis will once again embark on the path of marriage proposal.
For male mantises, not every marriage proposal is so lucky. Even after successfully jumping onto the female's back and starting to mate, the male mantis still does not enter the "absolute safety period" because the female mantis may turn her face at any time. Sometimes, male mantises may be blinded by happiness and dishonestly move their hands and feet on the back of female mantises, which often provokes female mantises and thus loses their lives. Thus, every marriage proposal by the male mantis can be a "journey to death."
<h1 class="ql-align-justify" > the final offering</h1>
After mating, female praying mantises need a lot of nutrients to produce enough eggs, and their temper is extremely grumpy and the amount of food is amazing. As the "due date" approaches, female praying mantises often stay in one place for a long time without moving. Before laying eggs, the female mantis begins to move around, appearing restless. Why? It turns out that they are looking for the most suitable spawning site. Female praying mantises usually choose to lay eggs on the twigs of plants, and walls, stones, window corners, door frames, and even places with wires have the potential to become their "delivery room".
When laying eggs, the female praying mantis first secretes a gelatinous substance to apply to the attachment, and then secretes a foamy substance as a substrate before starting to release the eggs. After each egg is laid, it is coated with a diaphragm and then another layer of eggs is released. The arrangement of each layer of eggs is very regular, which saves space and facilitates drilling outwards when the mantis hatches later. After laying the last layer of eggs, the female praying mantis will seal the end with foam. Throughout the spawning process, the female mantis's body moves almost no or only a very limited distance, it relies on the wobble contraction of the abdomen to complete the spawning, relying on the tail whiskers to detect the size and shape of the eggs that have been produced, so that corresponding adjustments can be made to control the shape of the entire egg mass. After spawning, the female praying mantis stays in place for a long time. Perhaps the spawning process consumes too much physical exertion and requires a good rest; of course, it may also be that it stays where it is to protect the egg mass until it is sure that there is no danger around it. After the female mantis lays eggs, even if the temperature is still warm, they cannot resist the process of physical failure and will soon die.
If the nutritional status is very good, the female praying mantis will lay multiple eggs, sometimes up to more than 20. Large mantises typically have hundreds of eggs in their egg mass, while small mantises sometimes have only a dozen eggs in their egg mass. In the tropics, eggs do not need to go through the dormant stage, and once they are produced, they quickly enter the incubation stage, and soon "miniature knifemen" will be born. But elsewhere, the egg has to go through the test of wind, frost, rain and snow, when the foamy substance wrapped around the egg becomes a superior waterproof and coldproof material to ensure that the egg is not affected by bad weather. With the advent of the next temperature rise season, the egg particles begin to develop, followed by the birth of a new generation of small praying mantises, and another cycle begins...