Mediterranean Conehead Mantis
Empusa pennata
The male has large, feathery antennae resembling those of moths, which it uses to detect female pheromones in the air.
- Scientific name
- Empusa pennata
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Mantodea › Empusidae › Empusa
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Dry grasslands, garrigue, scrublands, and warm, sunny hillsides.
- Diet
- Flying insects, particularly flies, bees, wasps, and small butterflies.
- Range
- Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Italy, Greece, North Africa
- Size
- 5 to 7 cm in length
- Lifespan
- Around 1 year
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat destruction due to urbanization, intensive agriculture, and pesticide use.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. If you spot this cryptic insect, observe its remarkable camouflage from a close but respectful distance. Do not handle roughly as its slender limbs are highly fragile. If it climbs on you, gently nudge it onto a nearby twig or leaf.
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.
Photo: Diego González Dopico, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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