Mantis field guide
Here are the 8 mantis species recorded in Korea and 20 unusual mantises from around the world. Search by name, or narrow it down by region, size, or look.
The size bar on each card is scaled so that the full bar equals 20 cm of body length. The longest species, the Toxodera stick mantis, fills the whole bar.
Mantises found: 28 species
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Tenodera sinensis
The largest mantis in Korea. It looks a lot like the narrow-winged mantis; you tell them apart by the color between the front legs and the color of the hindwings.
Read more →Tenodera angustipennis
One of the mantises you see most often in Korea. It is slimmer than the Chinese mantis, and the area between its front legs is orange.
Read more →Hierodula patellifera
A stout mantis with a broad abdomen. The white spot on its forewing stands out, and it spends most of its life under leaves.
Read more →Hierodula chinensis
An introduced mantis first collected in Wanju, North Jeolla, in 2018. It looks so much like the native giant Asian mantis that you have to check the underside of the thorax to tell them apart.
Read more →Mantis religiosa sinica
The East Asian subspecies of the species called the "praying mantis" in Europe. The large black spot inside the front coxa is the mark.
Read more →Statilia maculata
A thin brown mantis that has adapted very well to cities. The black and white markings inside the front legs are the mark.
Read more →Acromantis japonica
A small mantis about 3 cm long that lives only on southern islands in Korea. Newly hatched young look like ants.
Read more →Amantis nawai
Korea's smallest mantis, under 1.5 cm long. Its wings are very short, and it lives under fallen leaves on the southern islands.
Read more →Hymenopus coronatus
A mantis that mimics a flower with its white and pink body and petal-like legs. In an experiment it attracted more bees than real flowers did.
Read more →Theopropus elegans
A flower mantis with a green body, white spots, and a wide white crossband. Its hindwings are orange.
Read more →Idolomantis diabolica
Usually a muted color, but when threatened it spreads its front legs to suddenly reveal red, blue, and white markings.
Read more →Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii
A flower mantis with a big spiral eyespot on each forewing, so when it spreads its wings it looks like big eyes staring.
Read more →Creobroter gemmatus
A small flower mantis with a cream and pale green body and striking black-rimmed yellow eyespots on its forewings.
Read more →Blepharopsis mendica
A mantis whose cream body with pale green stripes blends into dry thorn scrub in the desert. It spends the winter as a nymph.
Read more →Phyllocrania paradoxa
A mantis that looks like a crumpled dead leaf. With the leaf-shaped crest on its head and its wide pronotum, it's hard to tell from leaf litter when it keeps still.
Read more →Deroplatys desiccata
A mantis that mimics a withered leaf with a shield-wide pronotum and leaf-vein-patterned wings. If it's spotted, it drops and plays dead.
Read more →Gongylus gongylodes
From above, its narrow pronotum and wide abdomen look like a violin. It snatches flying flies out of the air.
Read more →Empusa pennata
A mantis with a cone-shaped crest rising from its head. Unlike most European mantises, it spends the winter as a nymph.
Read more →Choeradodis rhombicollis
A mantis whose pronotum flares out sideways into a leaf-like shield or hood. Many individuals have moss and lichen growing on their backs.
Read more →Toxodera denticulata
A very long, thin mantis like a dry twig. It has a bow-shaped pronotum and lobes, and is hard to meet in the wild.
Read more →Heterochaeta orientalis
A very long, thin African mantis with pointed spikes on its compound eyes. At rest it stretches out its front legs and looks like a dry twig.
Read more →Brunneria borealis
A mantis whose males have never been found. Every individual is female, and they reproduce from unfertilized eggs.
Read more →Genus Liturgusa
A group of mantises colored like tree bark and lichen. Rather than just waiting, they hunt by running quickly along tree trunks.
Read more →Paraoxypilus tasmaniensis
A small mantis that moves with its front legs raised like a boxer. Females are jet black and wingless.
Read more →Ciulfina baldersoni
A small mantis whose males come in two forms, with genitalia twisted to the left or to the right, in nearly equal numbers.
Read more →Metallyticus splendidus
A mantis whose whole body shines like metal. Males are blue-violet and females golden green.
Read more →Stagmomantis carolina
The official state insect of South Carolina. Like Korean mantises, it spends the winter in an egg case.
Read more →Sphodromantis viridis
A large, sturdy mantis marked by a white spot on the wing. It has recently been spreading to Mediterranean islands, Portugal, and Greece.
Read more →Green and brown individuals occur within the same species, so color alone won't tell you much. Check the markings and body shape in the table below first.
| Name | Size | Look here first |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese mantis | Males 54–89 mm, females 58–101 mm | Membrane between the front-leg bases is yellow; hindwing base is dark brown |
| Narrow-winged mantis | Males 44–63 mm, females 51–87 mm | Membrane between the front-leg bases is orange; hindwing base is clear |
| Giant Asian mantis | Males 44–58 mm, females 54–74 mm | White spot on the forewing; two purple bands across the underside of the thorax |
| Red long-necked giant mantis | Korean measurements being checked | Same white forewing spot as the giant Asian mantis, but no bands on the underside of the thorax |
| European mantis | Males 42–55 mm, females 51–72 mm | Large, elongated black spot at the inner base of the front coxa; yellow dots in the spine grooves |
| Lesser mantis | Males 35–43 mm, females 44–58 mm | Square black spot on the inside of the front coxa; white markings in the spine grooves; grayish-brown body |
| Japanese boxer mantis | Males 23–26 mm, females 28–32 mm | Small at 23–32 mm; wings reach past the tip of the abdomen; striped compound eyes; southern islands |
| Millet-grain mantis | Males 12–13 mm, females 14–15 mm | Very small at 12–15 mm; short wings leave the abdomen exposed; leaf litter on southern islands |