Praying Mantiss Essay Example For Students

Praying Mantiss Essay Praying MantissMANTODEAMost commonly known as the Praying Mantis, order mantodeais a group of about 1800 carnivorous insects which prodominatleylive in tropical regions of the earth. Though certain speciescan be found in locations with moderate climate. With anextremely striking appearence, mantids almost have human likequalities with the ability to hold an erect stance, and armsthat face forward. A very efficient killer, mantids werecreated for hunting and killing prey. Order Mantodea is in the subclass Pterygota. As with allclassifications there can be debates on where certain orders orspecies belong. Historically there has been some confusion onwhether Mantodea deserves there own order. Some experts haveplaced Mantodea in the dictyoptera order along with cock roaches(Ramel 1996, Jaques 1981, Phoenix Zoo). Others say mantidsbelong in Orthoptera, which consists of grasshoppers. Expertssay this is due to their large pro notum (Stokes 1983, Borrorand White 1970). The emerging consensus around the position ofMantodea believes Mantodea constitute their own independentorder of insects. Mantids can be characterized by their triangular head, andfiliform antennae. This head has the ability to turn 180degrees. With their prominate pair of compound eyes located on Peters 2the sides of the head, the mantis can almost see 360 degreesaround. However the sharpest vision is located in the compoundeyes center, for the mantis to optimaly see objects it mustturn its head so that the eye is facing the object. These eyesare extremely sensitive to light, changing from light green ortan in bright light, to dark brown in the dark. The prothorax of the mantis is another aid in giving themtheir distintive appearence. This prothorax has the ability tobend and twist which aids in the mantids ability to see closeto 360 degrees around. The two long ?raptorial? front legs are adapted to seizeand hold prey. The coxa connects the tibia which has sharpspines to firmly hold prey. The femur has matching groves wherethe spine on the tibia fold into. This creates a ?jack knife?effect that allows the insect to assume its distinctive prayingposition. The other four legs of the mantis are designed forlocomotion. These legs can regenerate if broken, but only inthe molting process. These limbs that regenerate are alwayssmaller than they were originally. A full grown adult that nolonger molts no longer possess the ability to regenerate limbs. The front ?raptorial? limbs do not regenerate if broken. Because of their large bulky bodies mantids are fairlyweak flyers. They have four pairs of wings. The first pair areleathery tegmina wings that lay over the inner pair. The Peters 3mambrenous inner pair are folded under the first pair and areused for flight and to startle enemies. The large segmented abdomen houses the digestive systemand reproductive organs. The male mantis has 8 segments, andthe females are born with 8 segments as well. But with eachsuccesive molt in the female the last two segments begin tooverlap resulting with 6 segments left. Sixty percent of mantid species possess an ultrasonic earon the under side of the metathorax, especially those that havewings. The mantid is an ?auditory cyclops?, which means it onlyhas one ear. The ear is 1mm long with cuticle like knobs ateither end and two ear drums buried inside. The ear isspecially tuned to very high ultrasonic freqeuncies of soundwaves from 25 to 65 kilohertz. Apparently, the ears primarypurpose is designed to respond to the ultrasonic echo-locationsignal used by hunting bats. The mantis primarily uses its ultrasonic ears while inflight. When a mantis senses a bats ultrasonic echo at closerange, it curls its abdomen upwards and thrusts its legsoutward creating a drag and resulting in a sudden aerial stall. This flight manuever of the mantis creates an unpredictableflight pattern for the bat, and is very effective at avoiding hungry bats. There are three ways to distinguish between female andmale mantodea. The male has 8 segments, while the female has Peters 4The second is size, the female is always bigger than themale. The third is behavior, the male mantis is more prone to take flight in search of a mate, while the female often remainsstationary. Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts EssayThere are three common species of mantids found in NorthAmerica. The European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the Chinesemantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinesis), and the Carolina mantis(Stagmomantis carolina). The European mantis is usually 2-3 inches in length, andhas a consistently bright green color. These are distinguishedas the only of the three species that bear a black-ringed spotbeneath the fore coxae. The European mantids are most oftenfound east of The Mississippi River. It is said that theEuropean mantids were first introduced into North America inRochester New York in 1899 on a shipment of nursery plants. The Chinese mantis is the largest of the three native toNorth America reaching lengths up to five inches. This speciesis mostly light brown with a dull green trim around its wings. The Chinese mantis can be found throughout the United States. Peters 8The Chinese mantis arrived in 1895 on nursery stock sent toPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. The Carolina mantis is the smallest of the three never reaching a length greater than 2 inches. This mantis has adusky brown or gray color to blend in with the pine forests andand sandhills of Southeastern part of the U.S. An interestingfeature of the Carolina mantis is that the wings which onlyextend 3/4 of the way down the abdomen. There are many myths and legneds asscociated with mantids. For thousands of years they have captured our imagination, andcuriosity. The word mantis comes from ancient greece and means?diviner? or ?prohpet?. Many cultures have credited the mantidwith a variety of magical qualities. In the southern portion ofthe U.S. it is believed that if the brown saliva of a mantisever comes in contact with you, youll go blind. This mysticalsaliva also has the potential to kill a horse. In France it is believed that if a lost child is ever inthe woods and cant find his way home the praying stance of themantid will direct them toward safety. The Turks and Arabsbelieve the mantid always prays toward Mecca. During theEuropean Middle-ages it was thought that the mantis was a greatworshiper of god due to the great amounts of time spent in prayer. In China it is believed that the roasted egg cases ofmantids will cure bed wetting in people. In Africa, if a mantid Peters 9ever lands on someone it will bring that person good luck. Itis also believed that the mantis possess the power to bring thedead back to life. Type in praying mantis on most any search engines andyoull be able to find numerous amounts of info. But 80% ofmost of these praying mantis sites are all related to thepraying mantis style of kung-fu. To find any decsent info onthe praying mantis, you must type in the latin name. Many legends are told about the origins of praying mantiskung-fu. There is no disputing the fact that Wang Lang inventedPlum Blossom Praying Mantis Boxing. The one legend that seemsto be found at most web-sites describing the history of PrayingMantis Kungfu is the one about Wang Langs hiking trip throughthe Lao Shan mountains of China. After a recent devasting lossin a kungfu fight Wang needed some time to himself. Whileresting on a log he noticed two mantids fighting. Theirquickness, patience, and flexibility intrigued Wang. Usingthose same ideas, and techniques used by the mantids hedeveloped praying mantis kungfu. Peters 10WORKS CITED1). Profotilov, Hya. History of Praying Mantis Kungfu,http://php.indiana.edu/~iprofati/history.html. 2). Watkins, Gary. Praying Mantids,www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef418.htm3). The Care of Mantids, www.insect-world.com/main/mantids.html4). Bragg, Phil. Praying mantis Care Notes, www.ex.ac.uk/bugclub/caresheet/mantids.html5). Johnson, Sylvia. Mantises, Minneapolis: Lerner PublicationsCompany, 1984. 6). Hess, Lilo. The praying Mantis: Insect Cannibal, New York:Charles Scribner and Sons, 1971. Animal Science