How to Manage Pests:

Pest Management and Identification

Mantids/praying mantids

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Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Mantodea Family: Mantidae Common prey: Generalist predators on wide variety of insects Commercially available: Yes

DESCRIPTION

Adults are 2 to 4 inches (5-10 cm) long and are usually yellowish, green, or brown. Mantids have incomplete metamorphosis and one generation per year. Overwintering eggs are laid in groups in hard, grayish egg cases which are glued to wood, bark, or other plant material. Adults and immatures have an elongated thorax and grasping forelegs, which they have the habit of holding up while waiting for prey. Mantids are wholly predaceous, feeding on many kinds of insects including beneficial insects and other mantids. They often wait for prey at flowers where they capture nectar- and pollen-feeding insects. Mantids grasp their prey with spined front legs and hold them while they eat. As mantids consume both pests and beneficials, they are difficult to use reliably for biological control.