#4141 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects
Mediterranean Conehead Mantis
Empusa pennata
📍 7200 Campinho, Portugal
📍 Tozeur, Gobernatura de Tozeur, TN
📍 Andalucía, ES
📍 Lavergne
📍 07110 Vinezac, France
📍 Lugo, ES-GA, ES
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Anne SORBES · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 2. © Jacobo Krauel · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Ferran Turmo Gort · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 4. © Anne SORBES · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 5. 7200 Campinho, Portugal:© Axel Gosseries · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. Tozeur, Gobernatura de Tozeur, TN:© Sebastián Lescano · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. Andalucía, ES:© Diego González Dopico · CC BY 4.0
- 8. Lavergne:© Jice47 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. 07110 Vinezac, France:© Donald Davesne · CC BY 4.0
- 10. Lugo, ES-GA, ES:© Laura Mareque · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Empusa pennata , common names conehead mantis in English and mantis palo in Spanish, is a species of praying mantis in genus Empusa . It can be found in Spain and parts of Portugal, France, Lebanon, Central and Southern Italy and Greece. The species invalidly cited by their synonyms in many tropical checklists such as in India and Sri Lanka.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 9,802 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by Carl Peter Thunberg in 1815 (211 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Mediterranean Conehead Mantis
- scientific name
- Empusa pennata
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Mantodea
- family
- Empusidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 9,251
- sightings worldwide
- 9,802
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1815 by Carl Peter Thunberg
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 55122, Wikidata Q135372, GBIF 5048815, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.