Texas unicorn mantis
The Texas unicorn mantis is a praying mantis with a horn on its head, just like a unicorn. Grown-ups have bright green wings with dark brown blotches. It waits very still for insects to come close.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Its horn is really made of two pieces. In tiny babies they look like two little knobs, and as the mantis grows they overlap and look like one big horn.
Its babies are brown and striped.
A female makes 4 to 10 egg cases, usually on thin branches. Each one holds 30 to 50 eggs.
The eggs hatch after about six weeks.
Most asked questions about Texas unicorn mantis
?Why is it called a unicorn mantis?
It has a horn on its head, like a unicorn. The horn is really two pieces that overlap.
?Is the Texas unicorn mantis dangerous?
No. It only hunts insects and is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Pseudovates chlorophaea
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Mantidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Mantidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America
Where the facts come from
- Pseudovates chlorophaea (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 ALAN SCHMIERER. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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