Conehead mantis
The conehead mantis looks like a little alien. It has a tall pointy cone on top of its head, which it has from the day it is born. Its thin body is green and pink or brown, so it blends in with dry plants.
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Fun facts
Males have feathery feelers that look like tiny ferns.
It only notices prey that moves, because it hunts with its eyes.
At night, when it is too dark to see, it uses a special smell to find a mate.
It spends the winter as a young mantis and grows up in spring.
It is rarely seen in the wild because its camouflage is so good.
Most asked questions about Conehead mantis
?Why does the conehead mantis have a cone on its head?
It is just part of how it looks. Both males and females have it from birth.
?How big is a conehead mantis?
Females can grow to about 10 centimetres long. Males are shorter and slimmer.
?Is the conehead mantis dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Empusa pennata
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Empusidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Empusidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Empusa pennata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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