Last Updated on March 8, 2022 by Aaron von Frank
In this article, you’ll discover lots of amazing praying mantis facts, including learning what praying mantis egg cases (oothecae) look like. Praying mantises are a popular predatory insect common in home gardens and wild habitats alike.
How much do you know about praying mantises?
Most people — especially those who garden — know what a praying mantis looks like. These magnificent insects are famed for their alien-like visages and ferocious predatory habits.
But how much do you know about the native or common praying mantis species found in your particular region? Can you identify praying mantis nymphs? Do you know what their egg cases look like so you can spot them in your yard?
Can you spot the young praying mantis nymph in this picture? For size reference, it’s on a strawberry leaf and a Sphynx moth is eclosing on a pea plant in the background.
If not, read on to learn more about these awesome insects!
What’s the life cycle of a praying mantis? How long do they live?
Praying mantises’ life cycle is egg > nymph (with various instar stages) > adult.
The lifespan of a praying mantis varies by species, climate, and whether or not the insects are wild or kept in captivity. Praying mantises in our area (Zone 7b) live from about April through first frost in mid-October.
A praying mantis hunting amongst pineapple leaves in mid-summer at Tyrant Farms.
What is an ootheca?
“Ootheca” sounds like a rural town in our home state of South Carolina, but it’s actually the scientific name for the massed egg cases of mantises, roaches, and mollusks. In Latin, ootheca translates to egg container.
Praying mantises don’t lay single solitary eggs. Instead their oothecae (plural of ootheca) contain up to 200 eggs. Only a small fraction of their offspring will survive to reproductive age, so it’s all a numbers game to ensure the species’ survival.
When do praying mantises lay eggs? When do the eggs hatch?
In our area, mature female mantises can make several oothecae from late summer-early fall. The eggs in the ootheca overwinter, hatching (aka eclosing) in spring when triggered by sustained warm temperatures.
(Eclosing is a term used to describe when an insect either: a) emerges as an adult from the pupa, or b) emerges as a larva from the egg.)
What do praying mantis nymphs look like? What do they eat?
All instar stages of praying mantis nymphs look like miniature adult praying mantises, making them easy to identify — assuming you can spot them. This is known as an incomplete metamorphosis.
A tiny praying mantis nymph. This one is about 1/4″ long.
Butterflies and certain other insects undergo a complete metamorphosis (with a fourth pupal stage), wherein they look like totally different organisms between the larval and adult stages.
How do you tell the difference between a Carolina and a Chinese praying mantis?
There are hundreds of species of praying mantises around the world. In Greenville, South Carolina where we live, there are two species of mantises that we commonly see:
- native Carolina mantises (Stagmomantis carolina), and
- non-native Chinese mantises (Tenodera sinensis).
A Carolina mantis hunting on milkweed leaves in our garden.
Chinese mantises were introduced to the east coast in the late 1800s, and have thrived here. They’re much larger than our native Carolina mantises, and have been known to eat them.
At full maturity, Carolina mantis males are about 1.7″ and females are about 2.5″; Chinese mantis males are about 3.5″ and females are about 4″.
This large adult female Chinese mantis appears to be conducting an orchestra from this cone flower perch.
What does a praying mantis egg case (ootheca) look like?
Each species of praying mantis has a slightly different shaped and sized ootheca. Praying mantis oothecae have a light tan/brown color that blends in with its surroundings and a dense, papery-bubbly texture almost like spray foam insulation.
For reference, here is a picture of a Chinese mantis egg case/ootheca:
A Chinese mantis egg case (oothaca). The egg cases of Carolina mantises look similar in color and texture, but have a long, flatter shape.
And here is a picture of a Carolina mantis egg case, which looks similar in color and texture to a Chinese mantis egg case, but is smaller, more elongated, and flatter:
Carolina mantis egg case, hand for size reference.
How do you tell female and male praying mantises apart?
The easiest way to tell male vs female praying mantises apart: female praying mantises have six abdominal segments, whereas males have eight segments.
Adult Chinese mantises mating on a native passionfruit vine. As you can see, the male is smaller than the female.
Here’s a good article to see examples and read more about the differences between male and female mantises.
Can praying mantises bite people?
Yes, praying mantises can bite people IF they think you’re prey, but they can’t hurt anything more than your feelings. It’s probably not a great idea to wiggle your finger in front of a praying mantis’s face, although they’re very likely to also see your large body and move away from you rather than try to make a meal of you.
According to one of our gardening friends with personal experience, praying mantises can also strike you with their powerful front legs, which can pack quite a wallop. She had this happen to her when a praying mantis felt threatened, not due to it being aggressive.
We often encounter Carolina praying mantises on our elderberries since they like to hunt pest insects like leaf-footed bugs there – and they seem to camouflage well on the berry clusters.
Are praying mantises poisonous?
No, praying mantises are not poisonous. So in the off chance that you happen to get bitten by a praying mantis, there’s no risk of you being poisoned by venom.
However, if you are bitten by a praying mantis, you’ll get bragging rights with your friends. One day, you’ll also be able to tell your grandkids about the time you were attacked by a praying mantis and lived to tell the tale.
The Tyrant holding an adult Chinese mantis. She lived to tell the tale!
Can praying mantises fly?
Some species of praying mantises can fly. The Chinese mantises we’ve seen flying are rather awkward, like a giant, drunken moth. One summer evening, we saw a huge clumsy insect flying far up into a large wild cherry tree and realized it was a praying mantis.
In most species of mantises, having wings is an indicator that they’re adults, as the nymphs typically do not have wings. This is not true for all specie of mantises, however.
In Carolina mantises, only the males can fly. The females have larger abdomens and short wings, rendering them flightless.
Do female praying mantises really eat their mates?
Yes, females in some mantis species sometimes engage in sexual cannibalism, eating their male mates. A study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society found that — in the wild — sexual cannibalism occurs in 13-28% of encounters in mantis species that exhibit sexual cannibalism.
Rates of sexual cannibalism are likely much higher in captive mantises, especially if the insects are underfed. It’s generally advised that humans not mimic such behaviors.
Help! I found a praying mantis egg case on my Christmas tree. What should I do?
People often discover praying mantis cases on their Christmas trees after they bring them home. If this happens to you, what should you do?
Answer: remove the branch with the mantis egg case on it from the tree and place it outdoors asap before the indoor heat triggers the mantis eggs to hatch. Don’t try to rip the egg case off the tree or you’ll likely crush the delicate eggs inside.
We hope this article answers all your praying mantis questions! If not, ask away in the comments below.
Maybe you can go outside and hunt for mantis oothecae in your yard or garden!
KIGI,
Other 6-legged articles you’ll want to read:
- Lacewings: how to ID and attract this amazing beneficial insect
- What do ladybug larvae and eggs look like?
- A message from Fred the Gulf Fritillary butterfly
- Organic mosquito control in your yard
- Organic Japanese beetle control
- Complete guide: how to raise Monarch caterpillars at home
- 3 ways you can save the bees and other pollinators too
- Our top-10 favorite pollinator plants for a summer garden
- Want to take a look inside the nest of bald-faced hornets?
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21 Comments
Helene EVANS
April 7, 2024 at 6:19 pmI have 2 Sedum Plants & a Praying Mantis for the last several years. I only find 1 ootheca. I started to cut back the Sedum & again nothing in one of them but there are five ootheca in the other of the plant. I am so excited. Two of the ootheca are against each other. Is this common?Thank you for all of the information.
Aaron von Frank
April 9, 2024 at 10:56 amHi Helene! Do you happen to know what species of praying mantis you have? If you only have a female, you must have a parthenogenic species (aka one that can produce offspring asexually without mating). We’ve only ever seen praying mantis oothecae laid individually and spread far apart, but our mantises are wild organisms living outside with abundant space. Perhaps in a more confined environment, they’ll put oothecae more closely together.
Stephanie
December 29, 2022 at 11:23 amI have a question. Do Praying Mantis always lay egg sacs in the same location every year? Are they like some insects and go back to the same spot they were hatched? I have a dilapidated Maple tree that seems to have more sacs on it every year. We need to take the old tree down because it got hit by lightning and has only one limb left. Yet I don’t want them to go back to a stump if they need it. thank you in advance for your reply.
Aaron von Frank
December 30, 2022 at 9:05 amIn our experience, no, female praying mantises will not always go back to the same spot they hatched to lay their eggs. We rarely see oothecae on the same plants or physical structures in our yard from year-to-year.
If it’s good habitat, they’ll likely stay close and produce oothecae close to where they hatched, but you won’t be doing any harm to future populations by removing the remnants of your maple tree – your mantises will simply find new spots for their oothecae.
Janet
May 4, 2022 at 5:05 pmWe just moved to Southern Utah and I found what I think is a pm ootheca, but it’s a different shape than ones we’ve seen before in CA. I’m sending it to your email address (you listed in another comment) if you an identify it for me. We might also have roaches here, and I saw they also make an ootheca.
Aaron von Frank
May 5, 2022 at 11:20 amYep, you’ve got a praying mantis ootheca. You already know because we conversed via email. 🙂
Michael A.J Martinez
October 26, 2021 at 11:23 pmPraying mantises are not beneficial they eat the beneficials such as pollinators bees,butterflies syrphid flies and other predators of pests like dragonflies ladybugs,spiders and others as well as pests . Mantises are generalists predators they eat just as many good bugs as bad what ever they can catch.. And the Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis ) is a non native invasive species that will eat our smaller native mantises such as the Carolina mantis ( Stagmomantis carolina) the Chinese mantis will also catch and eat hummingbirds and small lizards and frogs which they eat alive.. Mantises have no venom so they hold their prey and eat it alive. So don’t buyChinese mantis eggcases . GOOGLE VIDEO PICTURE Chinese mantis eats hummingbird.( that is a Chinese its been ID ) Michael Martinez Entomologist.
Aaron von Frank
October 27, 2021 at 4:57 pmThanks for your input, Michael. Please note that nowhere in this article did we describe mantises as beneficial or non-beneficial (either the Carolina of Chinese mantis). We also noted that the Chinese mantises are non-native and have been known to eat native Carolina mantises. They may be partly responsible for the decline in Carolina mantis populations but as far as we know, causation hasn’t been definitively established. (Lots of insect populations are plummeting globally due to myriad factors including climate change, habitat loss, pesticide use, etc.). We also agree that people should not buy Chinese mantises to introduce to their gardens.
That being said, we’ve observed the following in our gardens: extraordinarily high diversity and overall numbers of insects, hummingbirds, frogs, lizards, etc despite the presence of both Chinese and Carolina mantises. Do the Chinese mantises eat some of our native bees or other beneficials? Undoubtedly. But not to the extent that they’re causing any damage/harm to overall populations of any one species as best we can tell. They have a lot of meal options to choose from, and there are also plenty of things trying (often successfully) to eat them in turn.
Some sources say Chinese and European mantises and oothecae should be killed/destroyed when detected due to their potential impact on Carolina mantis populations. Maybe that’s the best approach but we’d like to see some good multi-year research showing the effects of that approach on Carolina mantis populations before we start doing that here.
cassie M
October 6, 2021 at 2:14 pmHello, I have been admiring a handsome PM outdoors in my garden that I affectionately named Vlad but it seems Vlad is a Vladmira! Also I found an egg sac in one of the shrubs in my front yard. The shrub is not very thick at all and he / she has spent much time in that area over the past month. My question is we live in the North East US and as we know the winters can be brutal. How or what should I do with this egg sac if anything to protect it from the brutal winter? The location of the shrub is right next to the driveway where it will eventually be covered with mounds of snow. Thank you for any assistance!!!!!
Aaron von Frank
October 6, 2021 at 4:15 pmHi Cassie! Your momma mantis (Vladmira) survived last winter inside an egg case and emerged this spring once temperatures allowed. The same is true of her mate. The next generation will likely survive the coming winter inside the egg case you’ve identified as well. If you’re concerned about that particular spot having too much snow plowed on top of it, you can cut the branch with the egg case attached and stick it inside another bush or shrub located in a more ideal spot in your garden or yard. Even though her mom won’t make it through winter, Vladmira II (and siblings) will no doubt serve with distinction in her stead.
Cassie
October 7, 2021 at 1:56 pmThank you for your reply, I also realize the weather will have a break & we are going to have a week of unseasonably warm temps in the mid high 70’s and the sac is in full sun. Will they begin to develop too quick in that environment?
Aaron von Frank
October 8, 2021 at 10:24 amNope, they’ll be fine. Those developing mantises require months-long chill/freezing period before they’ll hatch.
George A Montgomery Jr
September 16, 2021 at 12:34 pmNice article!
One of my work sites lies within the Pinelands Nat’l Reserve in southern NJ. I get to see a lot of insects that are attracted to the security lights and stay on the walls through the day.
I ran across a smallish Praying Mantis yesterday that was postioned down low on the wall. It was swaying back and forth, so I looked down at the pavement and saw a small fence lizard sitting there.
I’m guessing the Mantis was sizing the lizard up as a possible meal.
I moved though, and the lizard took off.
Aaron von Frank
September 16, 2021 at 1:15 pmMaybe so! Those two species can have some pretty epic battles. There’s plenty of photos and videos online showing fence lizards and anoles eating praying mantises and vice versa. Seems to come down to a matter of who happens to enter the battle as the larger/stronger creature.
D Lamb
May 14, 2021 at 2:51 pmHi! Interesting article! In fairness to the concerns of conservation, perhaps perusing this article about the damage already caused by invasive European and Chinese species may prove sobering. Also, it advises specific treatment of the invasive species’ ootheca in order to prevent further spread of their damaging effects.
https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-mantis-species
as a prairie conservation activist back when, it is amazing how profoundly, quietly destructive invasive species have been, whether botanical, ornithological, aquatic, or other.
Best wishes
Jenny
November 7, 2020 at 11:16 amIn the Spring a few young Chinese mantis showed up on my screened porch. One female never left. I’ve enjoyed watching her grow, eating crickets and collecting her molts for display in the insect lab at the museum where I work. A few weeks ago a suitor showed up on the outside of the screen. After a few days of the two of them pining for each other I brought him in. The next morning he was outside again. I tried again a few days later. After the third time he stayed. Last night I came home to find her in the process of her laying an ootheca! I have a few pictures I’d be happy to share.
Aaron von Frank
November 11, 2020 at 4:55 pmThat’s wonderful! Good for you playing mantis matchmaker. Sure, we’d love to see some photos and would be happy to add them to the post. Email aaron @ tyrantfarms . com (artificially separated those segments so bots can’t see the email!).
Connie
October 20, 2020 at 4:30 pmEarly this summer I found a praying mathis while doing yard work. I made a beautiful habitat where the little thing began to thrive and actually did it’s last molt. During this time I also had one outside living in a small tree trunk. Last week while we had frost warning….I brought her inside and put her I. With the one habitat while making another. After a couple days separated them. To my surprise my mathis #1 had made an egg sack. So…I thought the one I brought inside was a male. Next morning mathis #2 had egg sack. Now how did mathis #1 lay egg sack? When been inside since before last molt?
Aaron von Frank
October 21, 2020 at 6:59 amHi Connie! A female praying mantis will still lay eggs/produce an ootheca even without a male around/mating. However, those eggs will not be fertile since mantises are not capable of parthenogenesis (reproduction without fertilization). The exception to that rule appears to be Brunners stick mantises, which are native to the southern US. So, if your female(s) mantises never mated with a male, it’s very unlikely their eggs will produce offspring.
Tirrell
October 15, 2020 at 6:37 pmI have been watching a Chinese Praying Mantis for many weeks now, she has been living on my front door. I had the honor to observe her mating and several weeks later lay her eggs on my front door. A truly magical experience…thank you for the information in your article about the Ootheca. I can look forward to next spring when they hatch.
Aaron von Frank
October 15, 2020 at 10:22 pmWow, what a treat! We have mantises all over our gardens, have seen them mating, but have never actually caught one in the act of laying/producing an ootheca. Yes, keep your eyes out for the next generation as the weather warms next year.