Mantis is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on April 19, 2016.
Article milestones Date Process Result September 17, 2015 Good article nominee Listed October 22, 2015 Featured article candidate Promoted
	A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on October 14, 2015. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that some mantises mimic flowers convincingly enough to attract insect prey?
Current status: Featured article

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Archives

Archive 1

There doesn't appear to be any substantial coverage of a minor sub-species, the Eremiaphila somalica, in Google Books or in scholarly searches. The single sentence on that page seems to be about all we can say about it. I'm not familiar with our standards in this subject-area, so I thought I would propose a discussion. It seems more sensible to maybe include a list of sub-species either on this page or as a separate List article, but not to have separate pages for every sub-species that has not been substantially written about. CorporateM (Talk) 19:46, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

• Using that as a criterion, 99% of all the insect stubs in Wikipedia would have to be merged into one gigantic article. There is already an article for the genus Eremiaphila, so if there was EVER going to be a merge involving E. somalica, it would be with the article for the genus, and NOT for the Order.Dyanega (talk) 23:02, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just so, well said. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:25, 6 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'm in an insects and society course at Radford University and I have been researching the many cultural influences of the mantis. In particular, I found numerous articles relating to the development of a surveillance robot that is largely inspired by the physiology of the mantis. I think this would be an interesting addition to this page, under the heading, "Relationship with humans". I can draft a short section and post it tomorrow on the talk page. Let me know what you think. Cstevens2 (talk) 04:34, 12 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure: "inspired by" means the realm of biomimetics (a word that begins with B and ends with S, like many of the claims made in that area, but I digress), so the material might be more relevant there or elsewhere. But we can give it a go. The paragraph must focus on what is mantis-like about the robot, with refs of course. I'll edit it if need be. Chiswick Chap (talk) 06:17, 12 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

How does this sound? I tried to focus more on the similarities between the robot and praying mantis without repeating the general physiology. "Researchers have been developed the prototype of a robot whose design is inspired by the forelegs of the praying mantis. The mantis-like front legs allow the robot to walk, climb steps, and grasp objects. The robot has a multi-jointed leg similar to the praying mantis, which provides dexterity via a rotatable joint. Future models of the robot may include a more spiked foreleg to improve the grip and ability to support more weight." ^[1]Cstevens2 (talk) 06:59, 13 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I've pasted it in, and linked and copy-edited it a little. I've named it Mantis-like robot, as "In technology" might imply the use of actual mantises there. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:15, 13 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Great, thank you for your help! Cstevens2 (talk) 14:09, 13 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Good Santexmorella (talk) 16:37, 19 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hi. I added a reference (to Bauhaus' song "The Passion of Lovers") in the Art and Literature section. Unfortunately, I'm not at all adept with the editor (which I presume may be HTML).So could someone help me out by adding a citation to the reference section please? MarcoDeSade (talk) 03:24, 14 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The format is basically just <ref>Bloggs, Joe (2001). A History of Rock Music. Grungemonk & Wetherspoons. ISBN 1-234-56789-0 Parameter error in {{ISBN}}: checksum. pp. 123–125.</ref> It's obviously your responsibility to find a suitable citation, so I've commented it out for now. Chiswick Chap (talk) 08:28, 14 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Idk Stop people and think (talk) 00:05, 12 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't see birds, like hummingbirds, in the list of things in this article that mantises are reported to eat. Read this and update the article because a lot of people care about hummingbirds. It would surprise a lot of people to learn that the mantises they buy for their garden may be killing the hummingbirds they're feeding in that garden.

https://www.unibas.ch/en/News-Events/News/Uni-Research/Praying-Mantises-Hunt-Down-Birds-Worldwide.html https://www.treehugger.com/animals/praying-mantises-released-pest-control-are-hunting-hummingbirds.html

Added, thanks. Chiswick Chap (talk) 05:31, 6 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

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To be corrected: «The name mantodea is formed from the Ancient Greek words μάντις (mantis) meaning "prophet", and εἶδος (eidos) meaning "form" or "type"»

Actually it derives from the word mantis - AND the greek adjectival suffix -ώδη (plural), ΝΟΤ ΤΗΕ NOUN είδος. The adj suffix from είδος would be -(ο)ειδή (english -oid or -id) and NOT -odea. Please correct.

See: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-%CF%8E%CE%B4%CE%B7%CF%82 2A02:85F:E2:100:78EE:ED54:A6E8:4E78 (talk) 20:36, 11 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done The source cited (Essig, Edward Oliver (1947). College entomology. p. 124.) gives the etymology in the article. If you have a source giving the etymology you described, we can compare them to see which is more reliable. A2soup (talk) 21:40, 23 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi

I have just uploaded a photograph of a molting african mantis (Sphodromantis Lineola) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sphodromantis_Lineola_molting.jpg

As this page does not yet feature a similar image to illustrate this important part of the insect life cycle, I thought it would be a good addition to the "Reproduction and life history" section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by AdagioRibbit (talk • contribs) 07:47, 17 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

 Done and thank you for the image! A2soup (talk) 21:33, 23 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Should there be mention of the common (but, I believe, apocryphal) notion that it is illegal in some places to kill a mantis? PurpleChez (talk) 12:43, 26 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

@PurpleChez, it is illegal to kill a mantis because they are considered very endangered species. Over5help550 (talk) 21:32, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

But, it is not illegal to accidentally kill one, to add to it. Over5help550 (talk) 21:34, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Videsh Ramsahai: I adjusted the cladogram to avoid the expansion-depth limit. Can you review it to make sure I didn't introduce any errors?[1] davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 18:26, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the help. You didn't create any errors.Videsh Ramsahai (talk) 23:20, 11 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

So perhaps mantises can range in size from 2 cm to a meter or more in length? The description is incompetent. 99.42.89.21 (talk) 16:37, 23 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I have witnessed this: a pet dog, a small mutt, overpowered and devoured a preying mantis in Carrollton, Texas.Pbrower2a (talk) 15:02, 4 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Pbrower2a, a real apex predator. Over5help550 (talk) 21:31, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A Mantis is also well known as a Praying Mantis, because there "hands" look like they are praying. ( nationalgeografic.com ) Over5help550 (talk) 21:41, 27 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Spiders are not natural predators of mantises in most cases. In fact, the reverse is more common. Praying mantises are formidable predators and often prey on spiders, especially smaller ones. They have strong forelegs adapted for grasping and holding prey, including insects and arachnids. I would suggest changing this. XCoolwave (talk) 22:01, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Research indicates otherwise. See, e.g. [2], in which they experimentally tested and found "15.4% of mantises were eaten by orb-weaving spiders, whereas 80.8% successfully escaped the webs." So, it can happen, despite the fact that it's not a common outcome. Dyanega (talk) 22:09, 26 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]