Narrow-winged mantis
The narrow-winged mantis is a long, slim praying mantis, green or brown, with a long neck and narrow wings. It holds its spiky front legs folded as if it is praying. Then it snaps them out super fast to grab a bug.

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Fun facts
Its scientific name means slender neck and narrow wing.
The mum lays her eggs in a foamy case 4 to 6 centimetres long, stuck to twigs, tree trunks or fence posts.
In Korea it is called the true mantis.
It looks a lot like the Chinese mantis, but it is slimmer and has a brown streak on each see-through back wing.
It was first spotted in America in 1921, in Maryland.
Most asked questions about Narrow-winged mantis
?Is the narrow-winged mantis dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people, though it may pinch a little if held.
?What does a narrow-winged mantis eat?
It eats insects, which it catches with its spiky front legs.
?How big is the narrow-winged mantis?
It is about 65 to 85 millimetres long, longer than your finger.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tenodera angustipennis
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Mantidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Mantidae
- Lives on
- Asia, Australia and Oceania, North America
- Also known as
- Japanese mantis
Where the facts come from
- Tenodera angustipennis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Yasunori Koide. 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.