Alice Springs Mantodea >
— see Alice Springs: Orthoptera – Orthopteroids | Bees | Beetles | Insects ◦

The Mantids in the order Mantodea, are similar to the order Orthoptera, having four wings (2 pairs), but they differ in that the Mantodea have grasping front legs instead of jumping hind legs of the Orthoptera. The males of most species of Mantodea are winged while many females have either reduced wings or no wings at all.

Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs Desert Park NT
Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs Desert Park NT

The Orthopteroid orders include Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and allies), Mantodea (mantises), Phasmatodea (stick and leaf insects), Blattodea (cockroaches and termites), Embioptera (webspinners), Dermaptera (earwigs), Plecoptera (stoneflies), Zoraptera (angel insects), and the non-Australian Notoptera (ice crawlers and gladiators).

Garden Mantis (Orthodera ministralis)
Garden Mantis (Orthodera ministralis), Alice Sprints NT

Another group of insects, sometimes mistakenly included in the group Mantises are the “Leaf and Stick Insects”, order Phasmatodea, although they are part of the general group known as Orthopteroid.

Sjöstedt's Graceful Stick Insect (Tropidoderus gracilifemur), Alice Springs Desert Park NT
Sjöstedt’s Graceful Stick Insect (Tropidoderus gracilifemur), Alice Springs Desert Park NT

The following Spiny Bark Mantis pictured here was about 3 cm in length on was on a eucalypt tree.

Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs NT
Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs NT
Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs NT
Spiny Bark Mantis (Gyromantis sp), Alice Springs NT

This page is a work in progress…


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Arthropoda
  • Subphylum: Hexapoda
  • Class: Insecta
  • Informal: Pterygotes
  • Order: Mantodea
  • Family:
    • Amorphoscelidae
    • Hymenopodidae
    • Liturgusidae
    • Mantidae
    • Miomantidae Westwood, 1889

Footnote & References

  1. Mantodea, Mantids, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/MANTODEA
  2. Mantises (Order Mantodea), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/48112-Mantodea
  3. Mantodea: praying mantids, Insects and their Allies, CSIRO, https://www.ento.csiro.au/education/insects/mantodea.html

Alice Springs Orthoptera – OrthopteroidsAcrida conica Common Bandwing Grasshopper (Pycnostictus seriatus) Coryphistes sp (Bark Mimic Grasshopper) Garden Mantis Giant Grasshopper Spur-throated Locust Variable Stropis (Stropis nigrovitellina) Woodger’s Gumleaf Katydid (Terpandrus)

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