The Chinese Mantis, Tenodera sinensis, is a non-native insect established throughout North America, where it is now the largest mantis species on the continent, sometimes reaching over 4 inches in length. This large size contributes to its reputation as a formidable, non-selective generalist predator. It utilizes an ambush hunting strategy, sitting motionless and waiting for prey to wander into striking range. The diet changes significantly throughout its life, with the size of the mantis being the primary factor determining what it can successfully subdue and consume.
Diet of Juvenile Mantises
Newly hatched Chinese Mantis nymphs are tiny, and their diet is strictly constrained by their small body size. These early instars must rely on very small, soft-bodied insects that they can easily overpower and consume. Their initial meals often consist of flightless fruit flies, which are readily available and appropriately sized. As the nymphs grow, they progress to slightly larger prey items like aphids, tiny caterpillars, and other minute insects found on plants. The mantis increases its prey size with each molt, which is necessary as the mantis grows rapidly. By the mid-to-late nymph stages, they can handle house flies and small bottle flies.
Primary Prey of Adult Mantises
The adult Chinese Mantis feeds primarily on a wide variety of arthropods, showing little preference for pest species over beneficial ones. They remain camouflaged on vegetation, detecting prey through superior vision and capturing it with a lightning-fast strike. The powerful, spined forelegs grasp the prey, holding it securely while the mantis begins feeding. Common targets include large insects such as crickets, grasshoppers, moths, and large beetles. This non-selective diet includes pollinators like bees and butterflies, which can negatively impact local ecosystems, and their large size allows them to subdue prey too large for smaller, native mantis species.
Opportunistic Hunting and Unusual Meals
The large size of the adult female Chinese Mantis allows it to occasionally capture prey outside the typical insect diet. These meals are highly opportunistic, depending on the prey wandering within the mantis’s striking distance. Documented non-arthropod prey includes small amphibians like frogs and small reptiles such as lizards.
Cannibalism is a frequent behavior, particularly sexual cannibalism where the female consumes the male during or after mating, providing her with necessary nutrients for egg production.
The most sensational, though rare, recorded prey includes small vertebrates like shrews and hummingbirds. These bird attacks often happen when the mantis positions itself near a hummingbird feeder, ambushing the small bird when it stops to feed. The mantis uses its powerful forelegs to hold the bird and begins consuming the internal soft tissue.