Thistle Mantis

The thistle mantis (Blepharopsis mendica) is a mid-sized empusid ranging from North Africa and the Canary Islands through the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East to Pakistan and India, and the only member of Blepharopsis. It lives in herbaceous growth and spiny bushes, blending into dry scrub and desert vegetation. Adults are cream to pale brown with light green stripes and wing veins and carry a small pointed shield on the back. When threatened it twists head and thorax to show the orange and bluish-white markings inside the forelegs and the hindwing undersides, half-spreading the wings to look larger. Length is 5-6cm with little sexual size difference; males are slimmer with thicker, longer antennae. Two subspecies are recognised, the nominate form and nuda from Ethiopia and Arabia. Its forelegs are built for catching flying insects, and in captivity only flies and moths are offered. It cannot walk on glass or plastic, so provide cork or another rough surface. Cannibalism is uncommon but housing singly from the fourth instar is safest; breeding is fairly hard, and holding the pair at 35-40C for a few days before mating is said to improve fertility.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Thistle Mantis lives Adults 3-6 months.

The Thistle Mantis grows to About 5-6cm.

Keep hot and dry at 30-40C by day (34C ideal) and 30-40% humidity, never below 21C at night; cooler conditions sharply reduce growth and survival.