Even though a common name for this insect is the "praying mantis" because of its arm position in a form of prayer, some can replace a letter and call it the "preying mantis" for it is well known for its predatory skills and consumption of other insects. As a mantis grows larger, their diet changes. When a mantis is first born, it starts of by eating simple tiny insects, or sometimes even its own siblings! However as it gets older it is incapable of pursuing such small prey. When at the peak of its life, some mantises are known for consuming animals as large as scorpions, rodents, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds.
Does The Skeleton Make Them Vicious?
Mantises have two grasping, spiked forelegs in which the prey is caught and held tightly before being consumed. Like most insect legs, the coxa and the trochanter combine to form the base of the leg. However these two parts in the raptorial legs form a segment that is about as long as the femur. The thorax of a mantis is comprised of three parts: prothorax, mesothorax, and the metathorax. In most species of the mantis, the prothorax is the longest of the other two segments of the body. The prothorax also allows a wide range of motion and rotation of the head and forelimbs while the remainder of the body stays motionless. Some of the flexibility is so extreme that some mantises can rotate their head almost 180 degrees.