European mantis
Amazing fact
The European mantis can hear ultrasound with an ear on the underside of its body.
University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The European mantis can hear ultrasound with an ear on the underside of its body.
THE REAL WORLD
The real European mantis
- Scientific name
- Mantis religiosa
- Japanese name
- ウスバカマキリ
- Group
- Insects
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Mantodea
- Family
- Mantidae
- Genus
- Mantis
Where the name “European mantis” comes from
Mantis, part of its scientific name, means “prophet” in Greek.
University of Colorado Museum of Natural HistoryA medium-sized mantis that lives in stable, little-disturbed grasslands such as riverbanks.
It has a black mark on the inner side of the base of its front legs, which helps tell it apart from other mantises.
In Japan it occurs in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and the Nansei Islands.
How the European mantis lives
It waits in ambush and quickly catches prey with its spiked forelegs. When resting, it folds its forelegs. The eggs spend the winter in an egg mass.
University of Colorado Museum of Natural HistoryNationalpark Donau-AuenBasic data
- Size
- Body length: 45–65 mm
- Range
- Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and the Nansei Islands
- Conservation status in Japan
- Data Deficient (DD)Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020
Where the European mantis has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ウスバカマキリ
- 简体中文
- 薄翅螳
- 繁體中文
- 薄翅螳
- 한국어
- 항라사마귀
- Español
- Santateresa
- Français
- Mante religieuse
- Deutsch
- Europäische Gottesanbeterin
- Português (Brasil)
- Louva-a-deus-comum
- Italiano
- Mantide religiosa
- العربية
- سرعوف أوروبي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Belalang sentadu eropa
- Tiếng Việt
- Bọ ngựa châu Âu
- Русский
- Богомол обыкновенный
- Türkçe
- Avrupa Peygamberdevesi
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 京都府 — 京都府レッドデータブック2015 ウスバカマキリChecked: 2026-11-04
- University of Colorado Museum of Natural History — European MantisChecked: 2026-11-07
- Nationalpark Donau-Auen — European MantisChecked: 2026-11-07
- Ministry of the Environment of Japan, Red List 2020Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
The conservation status in Japan is the category in the Red Lists of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan, which assess the risk of extinction for wild animals in Japan.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Mantidae
MORE TO MEET
