Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The Chi­nese man­tid, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia, is na­tive to Asia, specif­i­cally Japan, India, and In­done­sia. It was in­tro­duced to the United States by hu­mans in the late 1800s and now is com­mon through­out the United States, es­pe­cially the east­ern United States and Cal­i­for­nia. Today, T. arid­i­fo­lia can be found through­out most of Asia; it also has been in­tro­duced into Aus­tralia. It is com­mon through­out the Ori­en­tal and Nearc­tic re­gions. (Hurd, et al., 2004; Jensen, et al., 2009; Mazer, 2004)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
• oriental
  • native
• australian
  • introduced

Habi­tat

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is the most wide­spread and abun­dant man­tis species in tem­per­ate zones. This species usu­ally is found in grass­lands, mead­ows, agri­cul­tural fields, wood­lands, and ad­ja­cent to rivers and streams. It is com­mon in humid habi­tats. Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia in­hab­its a broad range of land in var­i­ous stages of suc­ces­sion, most com­monly in old-field ecosys­tems. It spends much of its time on herba­ceous plants and woody shrubs and also can be found near flow­ers. (Beck­man and Hurd, 2003; "Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Maxwell, et al., 2010; Mazer, 2004; Watan­abe, et al., 2011)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural
• riparian

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is ap­prox­i­mately 7 cm in length and weighs an av­er­age of 3 grams. It has a tan, brown, or oc­ca­sion­ally pale green cu­ti­cle, with the ex­posed edge of the forewings cre­at­ing a green stripe on the side of the body. The head is tri­an­gu­lar and can swivel a full 180 de­grees, and it has very large eyes. As in all other man­tis species, its first pair of legs is mod­i­fied into a folded pair of arms that are used to grab prey. Sex­ual di­mor­phism is preva­lent in T. arid­i­fo­lia, with the fe­males mea­sur­ing 10 cm or more in length, which is about 2 cm longer than the males. ("Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Iwasaki, 1996; Jensen, et al., 2009; Kaltenpoth, 2005; Maxwell, et al., 2010; Mazer, 2004)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger

• Average mass

  3 g

  0.11 oz

• Range length

  5.08 to 12.7 cm

  2.00 to 5.00 in

• Average length

  7 cm

  2.76 in

• Average wingspan

  4 cm

  1.57 in

De­vel­op­ment

Like all man­tises, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia un­der­goes hemimetabolous de­vel­op­ment (in­com­plete meta­mor­pho­sis). It pro­gresses from an egg to the lar­val form (which is called a nymph), and then de­vel­ops into an adult. Eggs are laid on plants in a pro­tec­tive case called an ootheca. The ootheca ma­te­r­ial is pro­duced from a pair of ac­ces­sory re­pro­duc­tive glands and orig­i­nates as a froth be­fore hard­en­ing to form a pro­tec­tive case. The eggs begin to de­velop im­me­di­ately after ovipo­si­tion within the ootheca, until the cold weather trig­gers dor­mancy. The eggs over­win­ter until tem­per­a­tures be­come warmer. Not in­clud­ing over­win­ter­ing, eggs hatch after about 6 weeks of de­vel­op­ment in early spring. Nymphs grow through as many as 7 in­stars be­fore de­vel­op­ing wings and be­com­ing adults in late sum­mer. Adults re­pro­duce and sur­vive until the first frost. (Hurd, et al., 2004; Iwasaki, 1996; Lelito and Brown, 2008; Watan­abe, et al., 2011; Yato, et al., 1990)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis
• diapause

Re­pro­duc­tion

Male Chi­nese man­tids mate re­peat­edly and fer­til­ize mul­ti­ple fe­males when pos­si­ble. Fe­males also mate with mul­ti­ple males, de­spite usu­ally lay­ing only one ootheca (egg case), and the dif­fer­ent eggs within a sin­gle ootheca may have mul­ti­ple fa­thers. Be­cause only males fly, the males ac­tively seek mates and are guided by long-dis­tance pheromones from up to 100 m away. To at­tract males, a fe­male flexes her ab­domen, which ex­poses her ab­dom­i­nal pheromone glands. Males are more at­tracted to vir­gin fe­males, sug­gest­ing that fe­males de­crease their pheromone emis­sion and other be­hav­iors after their first mat­ing. When court­ing, males ex­hibit be­hav­iors such as pump­ing their ab­domens up and down and wig­gling from side to side. They ap­proach fe­males di­rectly from the front or from be­hind. Fe­males also may ap­proach males, al­though rarely, and ac­tively par­tic­i­pate in courtship, show­ing such be­hav­iors as stroking the fore­limbs of the male. (Lelito and Brown, 2006; Lelito and Brown, 2008; Maxwell, et al., 2010; Watan­abe, et al., 2011)

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is one species of man­tis that strongly ex­hibits sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism, wherein the fe­male eats the male dur­ing or after cop­u­la­tion, often be­head­ing him. Can­ni­bal­ism is ben­e­fi­cial to the fe­male be­cause she can ob­tain food by eat­ing her mate. When prey is scarce and fe­males are hun­grier, they are more likely to can­ni­bal­ize their mate. Hun­grier fe­males will even make preda­tory strikes to­ward males be­fore cop­u­la­tion oc­curs. It is likely due to the threat of can­ni­bal­ism that when males ap­proach fe­males head on, they ex­hibit more cau­tious be­hav­iors and move much more slowly than males ap­proach­ing from be­hind. These dif­fer­ences in court­ing be­hav­ior ac­cord­ing to risk level are thought to in­volve pheromones or be­hav­ioral in­di­ca­tors from the fe­male.

Sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism may pro­vide some ben­e­fits to the male, as well. Males can con­tinue cop­u­lat­ing after they have been be­headed, though they can­not mount new fe­males on their own. Can­ni­bal­ism may re­sult in pro­longed cop­u­la­tion, en­sur­ing an in­creased trans­fer of sperm and pos­si­bly pre­vent­ing other males from mat­ing with the fe­male. (Lelito and Brown, 2006; Liske and Davis, 1987; Watan­abe, et al., 2011)

• Mating System
• polygynandrous (promiscuous)

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia be­gins mat­ing 8 to 10 days after its final molt, in the late sum­mer or early fall. It can con­tinue breed­ing until it dies dur­ing the first frost, usu­ally in the late fall. In gen­eral, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is uni­vol­tine and semel­parous, al­though its re­pro­duc­tive strat­egy can vary ge­o­graph­i­cally. Fe­male Chi­nese man­tids usu­ally lay only one ootheca (egg case), but the man­tids at lower lat­i­tudes (where the cli­mate is warmer and the breed­ing sea­son is longer) can pro­duce mul­ti­ple oothe­cae if the tem­per­a­tures re­main high enough later in the year. A sin­gle ootheca can con­tain any­where from 50 to sev­eral hun­dred eggs. If a fe­male pro­duces mul­ti­ple oothe­cae, she can lay around 600 eggs dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Fe­males pro­duce smaller egg cases when prey is a lim­it­ing re­source, but the man­tis species that can­ni­bal­ize their mates (in­clud­ing T. arid­i­fo­lia) lay larger oothe­cae and pro­duce more off­spring. Oothe­cae can weigh up to 1.5 g, which rep­re­sents half the weight of a fe­male, in­di­cat­ing a sig­nif­i­cant en­ergy in­vest­ment. Eggs over­win­ter and hatch in the spring. More males usu­ally are born than fe­males, though this ratio is re­versed later in life due to sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism. (Hurd, et al., 2004; Jensen, et al., 2009; Lelito and Brown, 2006; Lelito and Brown, 2008; Liske and Davis, 1987; Watan­abe, et al., 2011)

• Key Reproductive Features
• semelparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • internal
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Chinese mantids breed whenever possible during their few months of adulthood

• Breeding season

  Late summer until early winter

• Range eggs per season

  50 to 600

• Average eggs per season

  100

• Average gestation period

  2 months

• Average time to independence

  at birth, 0 minutes

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  6 months

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  6 months

Parental care in Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is lim­ited to the fe­male cre­ation of the pro­tec­tive ootheca in which the eggs can safely de­velop prior to hatch­ing. Fe­males pro­vide a sig­nif­i­cant en­ergy in­vest­ment by car­ry­ing the eggs and cre­at­ing the ootheca, which they lay on plants in lo­ca­tions where con­di­tions will pre­vent des­ic­ca­tion. After the eggs are laid, the adults pro­vide no fur­ther care or pro­tec­tion. Males ei­ther leave or are killed after mat­ing and pro­vide no care. Be­cause adult Chi­nese man­tids die when the first frost oc­curs, they can­not pro­vide any parental care for the nymphs that will hatch the fol­low­ing spring. (Iwasaki, 1996; Lelito and Brown, 2008)

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia gen­er­ally can be ex­pected to live 6 to 9 months in the wild. Eggs hatch in the early spring when tem­per­a­tures warm up, and adults die dur­ing the first frost. Be­cause its birth and death largely are de­pen­dent on en­vi­ron­men­tal tem­per­a­tures, its lifes­pan can vary by lat­i­tude. The high­est mor­tal­ity rates occur just after T. arid­i­fo­lia hatches in the spring, be­fore arthro­pod prey be­comes abun­dant. Be­cause prey can be scarce in the home range of T. arid­i­fo­lia, nymphs and adults often die of star­va­tion. About 90% of Chi­nese man­tid nymphs die be­fore reach­ing adult­hood. They are es­pe­cially prone to des­ic­ca­tion. The num­ber of males in a pop­u­la­tion, and the lifes­pan of males, are sig­nif­i­cantly lower due to sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism by fe­males. (Hurd, et al., 2004; Iwasaki, 1996; Lelito and Brown, 2008)

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  6 to 9 months

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  6 to 9 months

Be­hav­ior

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is a fe­ro­cious soli­tary preda­tor, and many stud­ies have in­ves­ti­gated its com­plex hunt­ing be­hav­ior. The large eyes of T. arid­i­fo­lia allow it to hunt prey pri­mar­ily by vi­sion, a tac­tic en­hanced by its abil­ity to swivel its head in any di­rec­tion (fully 180 de­grees).

Chi­nese man­tids also can de­tect im­mo­bile prey by ol­fac­tion. The hunt­ing strat­egy of the adults is to perch mo­tion­less atop tall plants, grasses, or in tree branches–-ide­ally, any place with a clear view of the sur­round­ings. As po­ten­tial prey moves past (any­thing from other in­sects to small birds), T. arid­i­fo­lia quickly darts out in a lunge and grabs the prey with its folded arms. The prey col­lides with the femoral spines of the man­tis fore­arms, and then the man­tis tib­ias close to grasp the prey. Man­tises hold their prey in their fore­arms while they feed, and the prey may still be alive as the man­tis be­gins to eat.

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is mostly flight­less, though males fly short dis­tances oc­ca­sion­ally. Fe­males do not fly, de­spite hav­ing wings. These man­tids do not fly in pur­suit of prey; in­stead, by wait­ing among tall plants, they can use their mod­i­fied front legs to grab or spear the prey that flies past. Chi­nese man­tids are ac­tive mostly dur­ing the day. (Beck­man and Hurd, 2003; "Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Hurd, et al., 2004; Mazer, 2004; Prete, et al., 2011; Ya­mawaki, 2011)

• Key Behaviors
• terricolous
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• sedentary
• hibernation
• solitary

• Range territory size

  2 to 4 km^2

Home Range

Be­cause only Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia males can fly, and then only a lim­ited dis­tance, the size of its ter­ri­tory mainly is re­stricted to the dis­tance that both the males and fe­males walk. It is gen­er­ally safe to as­sume that oothe­cae (egg cases) lo­cated at least 2 to 2.5 km away from each other were laid by dif­fer­ent fe­males. The ter­ri­tory of T. arid­i­fo­lia is es­ti­mated to be about 4 km^2; how­ever, ter­ri­to­ries likely over­lap. (Hurd, et al., 2004; Watan­abe, et al., 2011)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Like all man­tises, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia has high vi­sual acu­ity. It de­tects other Chi­nese man­tids and its prey vi­su­ally. It has strong track­ing abil­i­ties due to its large eyes and the mo­bil­ity of its head. Adult fe­males emit pheromones that are de­tected by males look­ing for mates, likely through re­cep­tors on the an­ten­nae of the males. Some tac­tile com­mu­ni­ca­tion has been ob­served be­tween males and fe­males dur­ing courtship, such as the fe­male stroking the rap­to­r­ial fore­limbs of the male. Nymphs also have been ob­served using their an­ten­nae to de­tect pollen grains, likely through a com­bi­na­tion of tac­tile and chem­i­cal sens­ing. Adults can de­tect im­mo­bile prey by ol­fac­tion. (Beck­man and Hurd, 2003; Liske and Davis, 1987; Maxwell, et al., 2010; Prete, et al., 2011; Ya­mawaki, 2011)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Other Communication Modes
• pheromones

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is a gen­er­al­ist preda­tor. It usu­ally eats any­thing it can catch, pre­fer­ring other arthro­pods (par­tic­u­larly in­sects and spi­ders). Adult fe­males have been known to catch small rep­tiles, am­phib­ians, and the oc­ca­sional hum­ming­bird. Their prey is lim­ited only by what they can catch. Chi­nese man­tid nymphs will eat pollen to sur­vive in times of low prey avail­abil­ity, while adults will eat pol­li­na­tor in­sects that are cov­ered in pollen, also in­gest­ing the pollen. Adults some­times will eat solely pollen in times of lim­ited prey. In ad­di­tion, adult fe­males some­times prac­tice sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism. (Beck­man and Hurd, 2003; "Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Hurd, et al., 2004; Prete, et al., 2011)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• birds
• amphibians
• reptiles
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

• Plant Foods
• pollen

Pre­da­tion

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is prey to a va­ri­ety of an­i­mals, in­clud­ing rep­tiles, birds, and pri­mates. When faced with a bird or lizard preda­tor, T. arid­i­fo­lia ex­hibits de­fen­sive be­hav­ior and pos­ture, in­clud­ing a dis­play called the deimatic re­sponse. The dis­play in­cludes el­e­vat­ing the pro­tho­rax, rais­ing the wings, ex­tend­ing the back legs to the side, twist­ing the ab­domen, and sway­ing vi­o­lently from side to side. The Asian giant hor­net, Vespa man­da­rina, also has been known to prey on Chi­nese man­tids, though the man­tids can fight back and often prey on the hor­nets in­stead. (Balder­rama and Mal­don­ado, 1971; Handw­erk, 2012; Ya­mawaki, 2011)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• aposematic

• Known Predators

  • Vespa mandarina (Asian giant hornet)
  • Birds
  • Reptiles
  • Primates

Ecosys­tem Roles

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia is a fierce preda­tory species. It has the po­ten­tial to sig­nif­i­cantly af­fect other arthro­pod pop­u­la­tions and can suf­fi­ciently keep prey pop­u­la­tions in check. While adult fe­males often catch small ver­te­brates, they are un­likely to catch enough to in­flu­ence ver­te­brate pop­u­la­tion size.

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia serves as prey for a va­ri­ety of larger an­i­mals, in­clud­ing rep­tiles, birds, pri­mates, and the Asian giant hor­net, Vespa man­da­rina.

As an in­tro­duced species, T. arid­i­fo­lia com­petes with other man­tis species in the United States and can threaten na­tive man­tis pop­u­la­tions. ("Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Handw­erk, 2012; Hurd, et al., 2004; Ya­mawaki, 2011)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia was in­tro­duced to the United States by hu­mans in 1896 as a form of pest con­trol. Today, Chi­nese man­tids still can be pur­chased to re­duce pest pop­u­la­tions in gar­dens or agri­cul­tural fields. They also can be kept as pets, as they are mostly harm­less to hu­mans and are very easy to care for. They can be kept in a medium- to large-sized aquar­ium and need to be fed live in­sects every other day or so. Oothe­cae (egg cases) are avail­able for pur­chase in pet or gar­den­ing stores. ("Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012; Hurd, et al., 2004)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

If pro­voked, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia can bite or pinch a human being. Usu­ally, it fo­cuses on prey items and ig­nores hu­mans, and it even can be han­dled with­out con­cern. Harm to hu­mans is very rare but pos­si­ble. ("Chi­nese Man­tis", 2012)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia has no spe­cial con­ser­va­tion sta­tus. (Mazer, 2004)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

An­gela Miner (au­thor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff, Eliz­a­beth Wason (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

Ref­er­ences

Con­ser­va­tion Com­mis­sion of Mis­souri. 2012. "Chi­nese Man­tis" (On-line). Mis­souri De­part­ment of Con­ser­va­tion. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 24, 2012 at http://​mdc.​mo.​gov/​node/​2938.

Balder­rama, N., H. Mal­don­ado. 1971. Ha­bit­u­a­tion of deimatic re­sponse in the man­tid (Stag­matoptera bio­cel­lata). Jour­nal of Com­par­a­tive and Phys­i­o­log­i­cal Psy­chol­ogy, 75: 98-106.

Beck­man, N., L. Hurd. 2003. Pollen feed­ing and fit­ness in pray­ing man­tids: The veg­e­tar­ian side of a tritrophic preda­tor. En­vi­ron­men­tal En­to­mol­ogy, 32/4: 881-885.

Handw­erk, B. 2012. "'Hor­nets From Hell' Offer Real-Life Fright" (On-line). Na­tional Ge­o­graphic. Ac­cessed Feb­ru­ary 23, 2012 at http://​news.​nationalgeographic.​com/​news/​2002/​10/​1025_​021025_​GiantHornets.​html.

Hurd, L., R. Mallis, K. Bulka, A. Jones. 2004. Life his­tory, en­vi­ron­ment, and deme ex­tinc­tion in the Chi­nese man­tid Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sinen­sis (Man­todea: Man­ti­dae). En­vi­ron­men­tal En­to­mol­ogy, 33/2: 182-187.

Iwasaki, T. 1996. Com­par­a­tive stud­ies on the life his­to­ries of two pray­ing man­tises, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia (Stoll) and Ten­odera an­gustipen­nis Saus­sure (Man­todea: Man­ti­dae). 1. Tem­po­ral pat­tern of egg hatch and nymphal de­vel­op­ment. Ap­plied En­to­mol­ogy and Zo­ol­ogy, 31: 345-356.

Jensen, D., G. Sven­son, H. Song, M. Whit­ing. 2009. Phy­logeny and evo­lu­tion of male gen­i­talia within the pray­ing man­tis genus Ten­odera (Man­todea: Man­ti­dae). In­ver­te­brate Sys­tem­at­ics, 23: 409-421.

Kaltenpoth, M. 2005. Life his­tory and Mor­phom­e­try of the Chi­nese Pray­ing Man­tis, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sinen­sis (Blat­topteroidea: Man­todea). En­to­molo­gia Gen­er­alis, 28/1: 1-16.

Lelito, J., W. Brown. 2008. Mate at­trac­tion by fe­males in a sex­u­ally can­ni­bal­is­tic pray­ing man­tis. Be­hav­ioral Ecol­ogy and So­cio­bi­ol­ogy, 63/2: 313-320.

Lelito, J., W. Brown. 2006. Nat­ural his­tory mis­cel­lany - Com­plic­ity or con­flict over sex­ual can­ni­bal­ism? Male risk tak­ing in the pray­ing man­tis Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sinen­sis. Amer­i­can Nat­u­ral­ist, 168/2: 263-269.

Liske, E., W. Davis. 1987. Courtship and mat­ing be­hav­iour of the Chi­nese pray­ing man­tis, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sinen­sis. An­i­mal Be­hav­ior, 35: 1524-1537.

Maxwell, M., K. Barry, P. Johns. 2010. Ex­am­i­na­tions of Fe­male Pheromone Use in Two Pray­ing Man­tids, Stag­mo­man­tis lim­bata and Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sinen­sis (Man­todea: Man­ti­dae). An­nals of the En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Amer­ica, 103/1: 120-127.

Mazer, C. 2004. Chi­nese Man­tid. Pp. 185-186 in M Hutchins, A Evans, J Jack­son, D Kleiman, J Mur­phy, D Thony, eds. Grz­imek's An­i­mal Life En­cy­clo­pe­dia, Vol. 3, 2 Edi­tion. De­troit, MI: Gale Group.

Prete, F., J. Komito, S. Dominguez, G. Sven­son, L. Lopez, A. Guillen, N. Bog­danivich. 2011. Vi­sual stim­uli that elicit ap­pet­i­tive be­hav­iors in three mor­pho­log­i­cally dis­tinct species of pray­ing man­tis. Jour­nal of Com­par­a­tive Phys­i­ol­ogy A-Neu­roethol­ogy Sen­sory Neural and Be­hav­ioral Phys­i­ol­ogy, 197/9: 877-894.

Watan­abe, E., T. Adachi-Hag­i­mori, K. Miura, M. Maxwell, Y. Ando, Y. Take­matsu. 2011. Mul­ti­ple Pa­ter­nity Within Field-Col­lected Egg Cases of the Pray­ing Man­tid Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia. An­nals of the En­to­mo­log­i­cal So­ci­ety of Amer­ica, 104/2: 348-352.

Ya­mawaki, Y. 2011. De­fence be­hav­iours of the pray­ing man­tis Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia in re­sponse to loom­ing ob­jects. Jour­nal of In­sect Phys­i­ol­ogy, 57/11: 1510-1517.

Yato, M., S. Hi­toshi, S. Os­hima, H. Kawasaki. 1990. En­zymic ac­tiv­i­ties in­volved in the oothe­cal scle­ro­ti­za­tion of the pray­ing man­tid, Ten­odera arid­i­fo­lia sine­sis saus­sure. In­sect Bio­chem­istry, 20: 745-750.