NZ Praying mantis!
Did you know that there are two types of Praying mantis? - the bright green NZ praying mantis, and there are also the green and brown African praying mantis!
Diet!
Praying mantis only eat live insects for food. This can be flies, crickets, moths, caterpillars and locusts. Praying mantis have very strong legs they can jump 3x their own body size, which makes them very quick hunters. They also have grooves on their legs that are spikes so the Praying mantis can hook the bug to the ground when attacking.
Predators
A praying mantis’ predators are Millipedes, Jumping spider, wolf spider. And much more spiders! 
Protection
A praying mantis protection is camouflaging into a leaf Here’s a picture!
Life cycle
The Praying mantis starts as a soft egg case. After a week or two the soft egg turns into a hardened egg case. Once the eggs hatch they turn into little praying mantis called nymphs. Then they grow up into praying mantis, And the praying mantis lays another egg!
Praying Mantises are fascinating invertebrate. Did you know that Boy and Girl praying Mantis both can lay eggs?
Written by Greer Parkes
