Sources
open directory project
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Mantidae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Large Brown Mantid, Archimantis latistyla
|
||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
|
Mantidae is the largest family of the Mantodea order of insects, commonly known as praying mantis. They are so named for their "prayer-like" stance. (The word mantis in Greek means prophet.) There are approximately 2,340 species world-wide; most are tropical or subtropical.
Many species are found in North America, three of them are most common: the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis), and the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina). Of these, only the last is native to the continent - the European and Chinese species were introduced around the 1900s as garden predators in an attempt to control pest populations.
 A mantis Ootheca |
 A mantis from the Western Ghats |
- Incertae - Fossils Only
- Orthoderinae
- Choeradodinae
- Liturgusinae
- Caliridinae
- Tarachodinae
- Vatinae
- Oligonychinae
- Haaniinae
- Thespinae
- Deroplatinae
- Phyllotheliinae
- Oxyothespinae
- Amelinae
- Angelinae
- Mantinae
- Sibyllinae
- Compsothespinae
- Iridopteryginae
- Schizocephalinae
- Photininae
- Toxoderinae
- Incertae