Grey mantis
The grey mantis is a small, light brown praying mantis from the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. It holds its front legs folded like it is praying, ready to grab a bug. The boys have long wings, but the girls have only short ones.
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Fun facts
Its courtship is one of the most complicated of all mantises. The boy can choose a bold dance or a slow, shy approach.
The boy taps the ground to say hello, then spreads his front legs to look bigger so the girl does not attack him.
The mother always hides her egg packets under stones.
It becomes a grown-up around July and lives until about October.
Its girls have eyes that point a little upward.
Most asked questions about Grey mantis
?Is the grey mantis dangerous?
No. It is a small mantis and harmless to people.
?How big is the grey mantis?
It is about 2 to 3 centimetres long. The girls are a little bigger than the boys.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Ameles decolor
- Named by
- Charpentier, 1825
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Amelidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Amelidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa
- Also known as
- Mediterranean dwarf mantis, Dwarf mantis
Where the facts come from
- Ameles decolor (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 Christian Ferrer. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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