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

Species Gonatista grisea - Grizzled Mantid

Grizzled Mantid - Gonatista grisea - female Mantis - Gonatista grisea - female < 1 day old grizzled mantis - Gonatista grisea Grizzled Mantid - Gonatista grisea - female Great Camouflage - Gonatista grisea - female It moved like a spider! - Gonatista grisea Gonatista grisea - male mantis? - Gonatista grisea - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Mantodea (Mantids)
Family Liturgusidae
Genus Gonatista
Species grisea (Grizzled Mantid)
Other Common Names
Lichen Mimic Mantid, Florida Bark Mantid
Explanation of Names
Gonatista grisea (Fabricius 1793)
Size
36‒40 mm
Identification
Mottled in various shades of gray, green and brown. Overall body shape is broad and flattened. Pronotum not narrowed ahead of foreleg attachments. Female has short wings, abdomen lobed on sides. In male, wings cover abdomen at rest.(1)
Range
SC‒FL; Puerto Rico, Cuba(2); one TX record (upper coast; BG data)
Habitat
Usually on tree trunks, sometimes on wooden fences/railings
Season
Adults year-round in FL, overwinter in northern part of range
See Also
Liturgusa maya (Broward Co., FL)(3) - smaller, with longer antennae and pronotum tapered anterad
Works Cited
1.How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches, and Their Allies
Jacques R. Helfer. 1962. Wm. C. Brown Company.
2.MANTODEA Gottesanbeterinnen der Welt
Reinhard Ehrmann. 2002. Natur und Tier-Verlag.
3.Praying Mantises of the United States and Canada
Kris Anderson. 2018. Independently published.