What kind of mantis is it?
It mimics a dry twig with its very thin, long body, bow-shaped pronotum, and leaf-like lobes on the abdomen and legs. It has the widest range of any species in the genus Toxodera.
Guinness World Records lists this species as the "longest mantis species" at 20 cm in body length. But the basis for the measurement wasn't published, and there are similarly long mantises, such as T. maxima in the same genus (about 18 cm) and the African cat-eye mantis (females observed close to 20 cm), so "world's largest" isn't an established fact.
How to identify it
- The body is very thin and long, like a twig.
- The pronotum is bent like a bow.
- There are leaf-like lobes on the abdomen and legs.
Size comparison
Body length runs from the head to the tip of the abdomen, using the maximum of the larger sex. The bars only show relative size, so they don't match real size on screen.
Look-alikes
- Long, bow-shaped pronotum
- Very thin, long body like a twig
- Leaf-like lobes on the abdomen and legs
- Pointed spikes on the tips of the compound eyes
- Very thin, long thorax and abdomen
Versus the cat-eye mantis: the cat-eye mantis, in the same family (Toxoderidae), lives in Africa and has pointed spikes on the tips of its compound eyes.
Range
It lives in old-growth forest in Southeast Asia. The four Toxodera species of Borneo are known to live only in old-growth forest.
Behavior
Its ecology is almost unknown. It is found rarely, and males are often collected after flying to lights.