Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Tenodera sinensis - Chinese Mantis

Mantis Nymph - Tenodera sinensis mating Chinese mantids? - Tenodera sinensis Green Mantis - Tenodera sinensis What mantis please . .  - Tenodera sinensis - female What's this? - Tenodera sinensis Mantis species - Tenodera sinensis mantis - Tenodera sinensis Is this the Carolina Mantis? - Tenodera sinensis
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Mantodea (Mantids)
Family Mantidae
Subfamily Mantinae
Genus Tenodera
Species sinensis (Chinese Mantis)
Other Common Names
Giant Japanese Mantis
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Tenodera sinensis (Saussure, 1871)
Syn: Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Saussure, 1871)
Size
The largest species in North America, it can reach 11 cm. (1)
Identification
The facial shield (plate below antennal insertion and between the eyes) is relatively wide and narrow (width is more than 2X its depth) in Stagmomantis (1, 2 and 3), more squarish (width less than 1.5X its depth) in Tenodera sinensis (4 and 5)
1. 2. 3.          4. 5.
Range
e NA plus scattered w. US locations (BG data); eastern Asia and nearby islands (1)
Season
mostly Summer and Fall (BG data)
Food
Carnivorous, eats other insects, both pests and beneficials. Also capable of eating small animals like frogs, lizards and even hummingbirds!
Life Cycle
1. Ootheca. 2. First instar nymph. 3. Older nymph 4. Adult female. 5. Adult male
Remarks
Introduced from China in 1896 to combat pests. (1) It out competes many of the native preying mantises, which are in decline.
See Also
Compare with T. angustipennis, the Narrow-winged Mantid, as both are similar in appearance. (2)
Print References
"Peterson's Field Guide to Insects" p.86-87.(3)
"Garden Insects of North America" p. 554-555.(4)
"National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects & Spiders" p.398, pl.298. (5)
Bartley, J. A. 1982. Movement patterns in adult male and female mantids, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Orthoptera: Mantodea). Environmental Entomology 11(5): 1108-1111.
Eisenberg et al. 1992. Adult dispersal of Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Mantodea: Mantidae). Environmental Entomology 21(2): 350-353.
Internet References
The USDA site of Forestry Images has numerous photos.
Works Cited
1.How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches, and Their Allies
Jacques R. Helfer. 1962. Wm. C. Brown Company.
2.Florida Preying Mantids - Insecta - Mantodea
3.A Field Guide to Insects
Richard E. White, Donald J. Borror, Roger Tory Peterson. 1998. Houghton Mifflin Co.
4.Garden Insects of North America : The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bugs (Princeton Field Guides)
Whitney Cranshaw. 2004. Princeton University Press.
5.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
Lorus and Margery Milne. 1980. Knopf.