European Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa) Photo By Charles J. Sharp – Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122275476)

Well Readers, a while back I was having a ruminate about what I thought could be the next mainland  European insects to arrive in the UK, and one suggestion was that the Praying Mantis could turn up – there are already breeding populations on the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, but this year two were found in Cornwall, one in Truro and  one in Mousehole. However, I am a little surprised at all the excitement, as in 2020 a colony of Praying Mantis  were found in a garden as far north as Oxfordshire. Maybe that  occurrence was found to be the result of escaped insects from a pet collection, rather than a ‘real’ colonisation, but nonetheless, it seems that Praying Mantis are increasingly at home in our gardens.

Female Praying Mantis (Photo By AlaskaDave – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20804648)

The breeding habits of Praying Mantis are well-known – females often eat the males during copulation, which provides them with lots of nutrition for their eggs. However, it’s been noted that males aren’t necessarily happy about this, and will actively try to avoid being eaten by approaching females who are cleaning themselves, eating or otherwise distracted. A male can continue to copulate even after his head is removed, which gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘losing your head’ over someone.

Incidentally, females are larger than males, and have a black mark close to their ‘armpits’ as you can see in the photo above.

Praying Mantises mating (Photo by By I, Zwentibold, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2382243)

Females then lay an ootheca, which contains 100-200 eggs. When the mantises hatch, they are tiny replicas of their parents, but are only about one tenth of the size.

Ootheca (Photo by By Ryan Hodnett – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36274081)

As the European Praying Mantis has a very wide distribution (including being found in North America) it’s maybe not surprising that it’s made the short hop to the south coast of England. It’s not certain whether the animals here have travelled in luggage, escaped from a pet collection or flown here. Yes, Praying Mantises can fly, particularly the males, who tend to be more active, and are much lighter than the females.

Male European Praying Mantis (Photo by By Abalg – Own product, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5108294)

So, I guess it’s only a matter of time before these impressive insects become part of our  native fauna. It’s not thought that they’ll have a deleterious effect on other insects, and they are harmless to humans, though they do look very impressive, particularly with wings spread and ‘arms’ raised in a threat display. Climate change continues to throw us curve balls. Let’s see who turns up next.