What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (2024)

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (1)

Praying mantis are known for being voracious predators. These insects hunt prey up to three times their size and will fight back an even bigger opponent when threatened.

Among more than 2,400 species of praying mantis, the one that stands out the most when it comes to aggressive behavior is the Parasphendale affinis, commonly known as the Budwing mantis.

Interestingly enough, this Kenya-native praying mantis species is also popular as a pet. Does the title of most aggressive mantis also mean Budwing mantis can be aggressive to their owners?

In this article, we’ll tell you everything about their hostile behavior. Let’s dive in.

What Is A Budwing Mantis?

The Budwing mantis usually has an earthy-colored body, with hues ranging from light beige to dark brown. These mantis also have darker spots and straps throughout their entire body, giving them a two-toned pattern.

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (2)

When it comes to size, the Budwing mantis is one of the largest species in the world. Female mantis can grow up to 2.75 inches in length and have wings growing from their backs.

These wings only reach up to the middle of their abdomen, meaning they’re too short to be used for flying. Even though they are not helpful for flying, the wings of a Budwing mantis do have their purpose (we’ll go into more details about this below).

Differentiating between Budwing mantis males and females is pretty straightforward. Male Budwing mantis are much smaller in size than their female counterparts. The dissimilarities are pretty visible even while they’re still nymphs.

With only 1.5 inches in length, male Budwing mantis are rather easy prey to different carnivores. But unlike females, they have long wings that go all the way to the end of their abdomen, allowing them to fly.

When threatened, male Budwing mantis generally prefer fleeing over facing their opponents. Another reason why males need fully developed wings is to find their mating partners.

They’re rather fast, so they can quickly move from place to place in search of their perfect mate.

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (3)

Aggression Towards Their Mate

You’ve probably heard about female praying mantis eating their mates. Well, this is not actually always the case with all species of praying mantis, but Budwing mantis lean heavily towards cannibalism.

While male mantis are in a rush to find their other half, females don’t share the same enthusiasm. That’s because most females also mate with multiple males throughout their mating season.

Males, on the other hand, generally stay with their first partner for the rest of their life.

That’s not because they believe in everlasting love, but because they don’t live long after mating. In fact, they die at the hands of their beloved partner.

What’s worse, that usually happens during intercourse. That’s right, this highly aggressive praying mantis breed never misses the chance to feast on its mate, which is the weaker sex in this case.

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (4)

What’s even stranger in this situation is that female Budwing mantis doesn’t wait until mating is over to eat its partner. These voracious insects start feasting by biting a male’s head off sometime mid intercourse.

But a male Budwing mantis doesn’t die in vain. Once beheaded, its mini-brain located in the tail activates and boosts its mating skills, to put it like that.

Although unproven, it’s believed that the act of eating their partners gives female mantis nutrients needed for laying more eggs.

While we understand that aggression towards males is “for the greater good”, we can still agree that their cannibalistic act is a rather frightening one to see.

Aggression Towards Other Animals

Since male Budwing mantis is about half the size of females, they’re a decent-sized meal. Especially compared to other stuff they usually eat, like crickets and worms.

But that’s not to say that Budwing mantis doesn’t like an occasional feast. These species are so voracious, they might eat practically whatever comes their way when hungry.

By this, we mean small critters and birds. As long as a mantis can grab it with its tiny hands, any animal is a potential meal of the day.

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Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for praying mantis to eat birds, frogs, lizards, and even bats! To be able to do so, the mantis can’t rely on its pure physical strength. Instead, it uses its rogue skill to ambush its prey.

Thanks to its earthy color and bark-like patterns, the Budwing mantis easily camouflages while standing on a tree. There, it patiently waits until the opportunity arises.

At some point, an animal small enough to be considered a meal will pass by, unaware of the predator’s presence. Once within reach, a mantis will snap the prey with its strong forelegs at lightspeed.

According to scientists, their reflexes are twice as fast as the ones of a housefly. With that in mind, it’s clear that their prey can’t possibly see it coming. And once it does, it’s too late.

The Budwing Mantis Battle Stance

As we’ve previously mentioned, female mantis usually has shorter wings than their male counterparts. The wings are too small for flying, so they obviously have a different role.

Like many other species of praying mantis, a Budwing mantis has odd patterns on its wings. Once spread, their wings look like the eyes of a much larger animal. That surely comes in handy when facing a much larger opponent.

Even though it’s bigger than most of its cousins, a Budwing mantis still has tons of natural enemies, including lizards, snakes, and scorpions.

And as we already established, this insect is unlikely to win a straightforward duel with these opponents. To improve its chance, a Budwing mantis has to make itself bigger and scarier.

That way, a mantis tricks its predator into thinking it’s facing a much more dangerous opponent, so it might back up from a fight.

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (6)

Funnily enough, a Budwing mantis goes even further into the role, and can even strike first to show just how much fight it’s ready to put up. This behavior is known as the mantis dance.

When in danger, this mantis species spreads its legs and wings and starts moving sideways in repetitive motions. It’s also known to make a hissing sound while swinging from side to side.

Its determination to scare the enemy is usually fruitful. After all, most predators don’t like working too hard for their meals.

If the prey puts up too much fight, it’s very likely venomous or poisonous. No predator wants to risk their life over such a tiny meal, so they usually give up and focus on something else to catch.

This aggressive behavior is commonly seen in female Budwing mantis, but that’s not often the case with males. Being much smaller, male Budwing mantis prefers fleeing dangerous situations over holding a hostile stance. Thanks to their long wings, they can fly away when threatened.

Aggression Towards Humans

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (7)

These fearsome insects (at least their female counterparts) will act tough even when facing a much larger opponent. But what about humans?

In a normal situation, a Budwing mantis would try to stay as far as possible from us, but in case a person approaches it in fast motion, it’s not uncommon for this insect to try and frighten us as well.

In case you don’t know, praying mantis have eyes consisting of 10,000 independent photoreception units. What this means is each of these units points in different directions, giving the mantis a 180-degree vision.

But that doesn’t mean they see better than us. In fact, their sight resolution is pretty bad, except for the middlemost part of their eyes.

Their vision is pretty blurry, but it does allow them to see depth. In other words, they can sense movement.

Why is this important? Well, because of their sight, it’s quite possible they don’t see how big of a threat is in front of them so that possibly gives them more confidence to do the counterattack in hope of scaring the opponent.

Keeping A Budwing Mantis As A Pet

What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (8)

Given the fact that a Budwing mantis can show aggressive behavior towards humans, you’re probably wondering why people keep it as a pet.

Firstly, a praying mantis won’t “attack” you unless it feels threatened and cornered. In fact, if you treat it adequately, a mantis will let you hold them in your hands and will climb onto you.

So remember, no sudden movements, or you might provoke it to attack and bite you.

While this probably sounds dangerous, don’t worry. A Budwing mantis can’t actually hurt you. Its tiny bite can be a tiny bit painful, but it won’t cause any long-term harm.

What’s more, praying mantis isn’t poisonous or venomous, and it’s very unlikely for their bite to cause an allergic reaction. In case it bites you, just clean the wound and slap a bandaid on.

Summary

Among 2,400 species, a Budwing mantis stands out as the most aggressive one. Not only does it actively hunt prey three times its size, but it stands its ground even when facing a much bigger opponent.

Still, this species is pretty docile to humans and won’t show aggressive behavior unless it feels threatened.

Alright, that’s it for this article, here are a few hand-selected articles that you might also find interesting reads:

Are Praying Mantises Poisonous? 5 Key Facts

3 Best Kind of Praying Mantis to Keep as Pets

Longest Living Mantis Species -An Examination

Steve Foster

Mad about bugs and wanting to publish as many articles as I can to help educate people about these amazing beautiful creatures! For more info check out my about page https://schoolofbugs.com/about-steve-foster/

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What Is The Most Aggressive Praying Mantis? | School Of Bugs (2024)

FAQs

Which mantis is the most aggressive? ›

For this week's topic, we are going to diverge into the behavior and characteristics of the Budwing Mantis. What makes this mantis unique, is that it is one of the most aggressive Praying Mantis' out of all of the species. While the females can be only 6-7cm long, they will still attack... well pretty much anything.

What insect kills praying mantis? ›

Predators of praying mantises are frogs, lizards, spiders, hornets, ants, birds and bats. In ancient civilizations, the praying mantis was believed to be a supernatural creature. It is believed to be a god in Khoisan culture and a necromancer in ancient Mediterranean culture.

How aggressive are praying mantis? ›

The first thing to know is that a praying mantis is a non-aggressive carnivorous insect. Uninterested in humans, mantises have no known venomous species discovered so far. But it displays the deadliest behavior, when it stalks its prey or when it is attacked or provoked by any predator (including human).

What insect is stronger than a praying mantis? ›

The praying mantis took second place in our competition, so congratulations are in order! Now that we've reached the top of the pyramid, the waiting is officially over. The grand prize for the world's strongest insect goes to...the dung beetle!

Can a mantis hurt you? ›

Praying mantises are usually quite shy and will avoid contact with people. However, if a praying mantis feels threatened, it may bite. Although their bites are nonvenomous, they might become irritated or itchy.

Are female mantis more aggressive? ›

Although aggression was similar for juvenile male and female M. caffra, adult females were significantly more aggressive than adult males.

Do mantis eat hummingbirds? ›

Even though mantises are smaller, they'll still attack hummingbirds. Here's how to keep your backyard bird safe. Praying mantids are fast and can snatch a hummingbird out of the air.

Will a mantis eat a stink bug? ›

Praying mantises eat a variety of insects including crickets, flies, and moths. They'll also eat certain pests, like the brown marmorated stink bug, making them beneficial insects that aren't so bad to have in your garden.

Why do praying mantis look at you? ›

By moving their compound eyes, their brain can gather enough information to detect even the most well camouflaged prey. So, when it seems like the black dot of a pseudopupil is looking right at you, it is. Praying mantises are efficient, voracious, and ambitious carnivores.

What is the strongest bug in the world? ›

The horned dung beetle, known as the Onthophagus Taurus (say that three times fast) has been scientifically proven to be the world's strongest insect, lifting 1,141 times its body weight. Holy dung!

What is the biggest praying mantis ever recorded? ›

The Chinese mantis is a long, slender, brown and green praying mantis. It is typically longer than other praying mantis species, reaching just over 11 cm (4.3 in), and is the largest mantis species in North America (spread throughout the Northeast United States).

Which mantis can't fly? ›

Females of ground mantid and grasshopper mantid do not possess wings and males may also be wingless. During mating it is sometimes reported that the female eats the male.

What is the most friendly mantis? ›

The S. Lineola or the Blue Flash are the best pets ever! Sphodromantis common name African mantis or African praying mantis, is a species of praying mantis from Africa sometimes raised in captivity. These are large and friendly, they love to be held and are a great example of how friendly and smart mantids are as pets.

What is the least aggressive mantis? ›

7 – Devil's Flower Mantis

Although they grow up to 5 inches, they're among the least aggressive of the mantis species.

Are female mantis stronger? ›

For mantises, the females tend to be bigger and much stronger. From an evolutionary standpoint, being eaten by your mate isn't always a bad thing. For one thing, the mother of your offspring will be more well-fed and may therefore lay more and healthier eggs.

Are male praying mantis aggressive? ›

But this study shows the male praying mantis will engage in violent physical struggle with the female to try and successfully mate, and the strategy appears to work: the majority of males who managed to both successfully copulate and avoid being eaten engaged in physical struggle with the female.

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