#4098 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects
European Mantis
🇳🇱 Europese Bidsprinkhaan ·Mantis religiosa
9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The European mantis or Mantis religiosa is a large hemimetabolic insect in the family of the Mantidae (‘mantids’), which is the largest family of the order Mantodea (mantises). Their common name praying mantis is derived from the distinctive posture of the first pair of legs that can be observed in animals in repose. It resembles a praying attitude. Both males and females have elongated bodies with two pair of wings. The most striking features that all...
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
- Spotted 24 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 122,318 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- European Mantis
- Nederlands
- Europese Bidsprinkhaan
- scientific name
- Mantis religiosa
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Mantodea
- family
- Mantidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 24
- sightings in Europe
- 65,873
- sightings worldwide
- 122,318
- GBIF records in NL
- 151
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Mantidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 53905, Wikidata Q268319, GBIF 6258028, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.