Yes, praying mantises do eat bees. They are highly effective predators, and bees fall within their broad diet. This predatory behavior is a growing concern for beekeepers and conservationists, as bees are valuable pollinators facing multiple threats in the environment. The mantis’s lack of discrimination between pests and beneficial insects makes them a complicated presence in gardens and natural ecosystems.
General Hunting Strategies
The praying mantis is categorized as a generalist, ambush predator, relying on stealth rather than pursuit to secure a meal. They are masters of camouflage, blending into foliage, flowers, or bark to await unsuspecting prey. Their iconic “praying” posture is a poised hunting stance, readying the powerful raptorial forelegs for a strike.
These front legs are armed with rows of sharp, overlapping spines designed to securely hold captured insects. The mantis possesses a flexible neck that allows its triangular head to rotate up to 180 degrees, providing a wide field of vision. Once prey is within striking distance, the mantis delivers a lightning-fast strike. Their diet is varied, including flies, crickets, grasshoppers, and other arthropods. Larger species can occasionally subdue small vertebrates like frogs, lizards, or even hummingbirds.
Targeted Predation of Bees
Bees are particularly vulnerable to mantis predation because their foraging behavior naturally brings them into the mantis’s preferred ambush locations. Mantises frequently position themselves on flowers or near nectar sources, which are high-traffic feeding areas for pollinators. The mantis’s camouflage allows it to wait motionlessly, and a foraging bee that lands within its reach is instantly targeted. The speed of the strike is extremely fast, typically occurring in less than one-tenth of a second, which prevents the bee from using its sting in defense.
Once captured, the bee is held securely as the mantis begins to consume it, often starting with the head. Observations suggest that mantises frequently discard the wings and legs of the bee, focusing on the nutrient-rich body. Larger mantises, especially those over 4.5 centimeters in body length, pose a greater threat to bees. Honey bees have shown the ability to detect and avoid mantises based on visual cues and odor, even decreasing their recruitment dances to a food source where a predator is present.
The Role of Invasive Species
The ecological impact of mantis predation on bees is magnified by the presence of large, non-native species. The Chinese Mantis (Tenodera sinensis) and the European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) have become established in many regions after being introduced for pest control. These introduced species are substantially larger than native mantises, such as the Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina).
The greater size allows them to successfully hunt a wider range of large pollinators, including bumblebees and monarch butterflies. These non-native predators also reach higher population densities and sometimes actively prey on the smaller, native mantis species. The Chinese mantis, for example, can grow to over 12 centimeters long, making it a formidable threat. Beekeepers and gardeners often find it necessary to manage the populations of these invasive species. Their sheer size means they consume a disproportionately large number of beneficial insects, posing a greater overall threat to local insect biodiversity than native species.