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

Species Stagmomantis carolina - Carolina Mantis

Mantis ID Request - Stagmomantis carolina - male Nymph of Stagmomantis carolina vs Tenodera sinensis - Stagmomantis carolina Carolina or Arizona Mantis? View 2 - Stagmomantis carolina - female Mantis - Stagmomantis carolina - female mantis - Stagmomantis carolina - female Pennsylvania Mantis - Stagmomantis carolina - male Praying mantis on porch - Stagmomantis carolina Carolina Mantis - Anterior Juvenile  - Stagmomantis carolina
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Mantodea (Mantids)
Family Mantidae
Genus Stagmomantis
Species carolina (Carolina Mantis)
Other Common Names
Carolina Mantid
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
there is some uncertainty about the species' authorship -- see here
some southern populations may be treated as a separate species, S. conspurcata (Serville) (Anderson 2020)
Explanation of Names
Stagmomantis carolina (Johanson 1763)
described from the Carolinas
Size
Adults 48-57 mm (incl. wings)
Identification
Head and thorax almost as long as the abdomen. Pale green to brownish grey. Males usually brown, females green or brown. Females flightless, short-winged; male wings may or may not extend beyond the tip of abdomen.
The facial shield (plate below antennal insertion and between the eyes) relatively long and narrow in Stagmomantis (1-3), more squarish in Tenodera sinensis (4-5)
1. 2. 3. • 4. 5.
Range
US west to the Rockies; Mesoamerica
Recently found in NY & CT (perhaps spreading north)
Habitat
Meadows and gardens
Season
August to frost in e.NC(1)
Food
Butterflies, moths, flies, small wasps and bees, true bugs and caterpillars
Life Cycle
One generation per year. Eggs overwinter and hatch in early spring. Adults mature by late summer and usually die by winter, may live longer in FL (Price 1984, Prete et al 1999). Has slower development and occurs at lower densities than some reated species (Harris & Moran 2000).
Egg case • Emerging nymphs • Nymph. • Adult female • Adult male
Print References
Harris SJ, Moran MD (2000) Life history and population characteristics of the mantid Stagmomantis carolina (Mantodea: Mantidae). Env. Entomol. 29: 64-68. (Full text)
Internet References
fact sheet (Paredes 2001)
Works Cited
1.Insects of North Carolina
C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.