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Sticker of Horned ground mantis
Bug card No. 2269 of 4,939

Horned ground mantis

Yersiniops solitarius
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsMantisesGardens and meadows6 legs

The horned ground mantis is a small praying mantis from the south-western United States. It is usually straw-coloured, like dry grass, and has a little pointy bump near its eyes. It has no proper wings, but it is a super jumper.

Lives in
Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado in the United States, in grassy prairie
Length
1.8 to 2.2 cm (0.71 to 0.87 in)
Top speed
about 0.61 km/h (0.38 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people.
What does it eat?
Like all mantises, it hunts other insects and grabs them with its spiky front legs.
For real!Photo of Horned ground mantis
Picture by Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents United States National Museum. Report of the U.S. National Museum Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Horned ground mantis about 2.2 cm long (0.87 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 5.9 seconds

How big is Horned ground mantis compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is about 18 to 22 millimetres long, which is small for a mantis.

2

It has no wings at all, or only very short wings that cannot fly.

3

Instead of flying, it jumps very well.

4

It is not often seen, so finding one is a lucky day.

you asked

Most asked questions about Horned ground mantis

?Can the horned ground mantis fly?

No. It has no wings or only tiny ones, but it is an excellent jumper.

?How big is the horned ground mantis?

About 18 to 22 millimetres long, a small mantis.

?Is the horned ground mantis dangerous?

No. It is harmless to people.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Yersiniops solitarius
Group
Mantises
Classification
Insecta > Mantodea
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Yersiniops solitarius (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 Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents United States National Museum. Report of the U.S. National Museum Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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