Mantidae
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 Large Brown Mantid, Archimantis latistyla
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Mantidae is the largest family of the Mantodea order of insects, commonly known as praying mantis. They are so named for their "prayer-like" stance. (The word mantis in Greek means prophet.) There are approximately 2,340 species world-wide; most are tropical or subtropical.
Many species are found in North America, three of them are most common: the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis), and the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina). Of these, only the last is native to the continent - the European and Chinese species were introduced around the 1900s as garden predators in an attempt to control pest populations.
 A mantis Ootheca |
 A mantis from the Western Ghats |
[edit] Subfamilies
- Incertae - Fossils Only
- Orthoderinae
- Choeradodinae
- Liturgusinae
- Caliridinae
- Tarachodinae
- Vatinae
- Oligonychinae
- Haaniinae
- Thespinae
- Deroplatinae
- Phyllotheliinae
- Oxyothespinae
- Amelinae
- Angelinae
- Mantinae
- Sibyllinae
- Compsothespinae
- Iridopteryginae
- Schizocephalinae
- Photininae
- Toxoderinae
- Incertae
