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Sticker of Chinese mantis
Bug card No. 0266 of 1,500

Chinese mantis

Tenodera sinensis
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsMantisesGardens and meadows6 legs

The Chinese mantis is a long, slim praying mantis that can be green or brown. It holds its spiky front legs folded, as if it is praying, and waits very still. When an insect comes close, it grabs it in a flash.

Lives in
China, Japan, Korea and the far east of Russia, and now also the eastern United States
Length
11 cm (4.3 in)
Top speed
about 1.4 km/h (0.87 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It may pinch a finger with its spiky front legs, but that does not really hurt.
What does it eat?
It eats other big insects like grasshoppers and katydids, and also spiders. Big females sometimes catch frogs, small lizards or even hummingbirds.
For real!Photo of Chinese mantis
Picture by Luc Viatour. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Chinese mantis about 11 cm long (4.3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 3 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handcould run across a dinner table in 2.6 seconds

How big is Chinese mantis compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the biggest mantis in North America, at just over 11 centimetres long.

2

It came to the United States by accident in 1896, carried in by a plant nursery near Philadelphia.

3

A female makes a foamy egg case about 2 centimetres wide, with up to 300 eggs inside.

4

It lives only about one year. Babies hatch in spring, and the grown-ups die when it gets cold.

5

A kung fu style called Praying Mantis was made by copying its quick moves, and Master Mantis in Kung Fu Panda is a Chinese mantis.

you asked

Most asked questions about Chinese mantis

?Is the Chinese mantis dangerous?

No. It is harmless to people, though it is a fierce hunter of insects.

?How big is a Chinese mantis?

It can grow just over 11 centimetres long, longer than most other mantises.

?What does a Chinese mantis eat?

Mostly big insects and spiders. Large females can even catch small frogs or lizards.

Myth buster

Myth: Chinese mantises are great at clearing garden pests.

Truth: Not really. They wait and grab whatever comes near, including helpful bees and butterflies, so they are not very good pest control.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Tenodera sinensis
Group
Mantises
Family
Mantidae
Classification
Insecta > Mantodea > Mantidae
Lives on
Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Chinese mantis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Luc Viatour. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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