American grass mantis
The American grass mantis is a long, thin, light brown mantis. It looks just like a pine needle or a blade of dry grass. To hide, it stretches its front legs forward and sways from side to side.
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Fun facts
Only the grown-up males have wings. The females never get any.
Some females can have babies without a male.
The mother lays her eggs in a foamy blob that hardens into a tough little case.
Its babies look like tiny copies of the grown-ups, just without wings.
Among pine needles it is so well hidden that it is very hard to spot.
Most asked questions about American grass mantis
?Is the American grass mantis dangerous?
No. It only hunts small insects and is harmless to people.
?How big is the American grass mantis?
It is usually about 5 cm long, and sometimes a bit longer.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Thesprotia graminis
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Thespidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Thespidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Grass-like mantis
Where the facts come from
- Thesprotia graminis (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 Shannon. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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