ANALYSING THE PRAYING MANTIS Praying mantises are particularly interesting because of their close association with femininity

and female sexuality. The idea that the female mantis is a femme fatale has resonated in U.S. culture, a culture that loves to recount how human women kill the spirits of their male mates; a culture that will unfairly characterize females as villains whenever possible. The femme fatale promises pleasure, specifically sexual in nature.

Roger Caillois (1913-1978) was a French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher noted for his explanation of aberrant sexual behaviours, specifically the female mantis eating its mate during copulation. Cailliois work focused on the connection between pleasure and death as a simple reality through studying the praying mantis, specifically the female praying mantis affinity for eating her partner before, after or during sex. A key concept for Cailliois was the inherently excessive expenditure of structural, anatomical or behaviour traits that go above and beyond the survival needs of an organism; for example, peacocks feathers or the camouflage of a caterpillar, or the libido of human sexuality and desire.

In anthropomorphizing the insects behaviours, praying mantises become linked with fundamentally paranoid projections, the femme fatale..for the praying mantis is the female lover who

threatens the phallus not the other way around. Pleasure and death are linked together by the praying mantis by making sex something to die for. This places woman in the category of non-human, or the living threat of death.
Caillois, R (c1934) "The Praying Mantis: From Biology to Psychoanalysis"

The mantids reproductive processes are a heavily studied area. Mantids spend all summer preying upon all sorts of insects and spiders, periodically molting their exoskeleton and enlarging their bodies. After about two weeks following his final molt, the male mantis reaches sexual maturity and begins to seek out a female. Like other males (including humans) he is driven by genetic programming and an irresistible scent secreted by the female. Although some males do escape unscathed after mating, many are seized by the female and are dismantled and eaten organ-by-organ, often head first. Serving as a "last supper," the sacrificial male provides his mate with a meal in late autumn when insect food supplies may be scarce, and when she desperately needs vital time and energy to make several egg cases packed with hundreds of eggs. Chinese Mantises show elaborate courtship behaviour. Much has been made of the cannibalistic response in the mantis while copulating. In actuality this only occurs some of the time, most often because the female is hungry and a mate's head provides an instant source of energy for her. In one species, however, it is necessary that the head is removed for the mating to take effect properly. Experiments have been done to show that under certain food intake situations it is in the mantids best interest to reduce the competition for food, but as the male mantid tries to escape, it is probably only in the females best interest. A female mantis is capable of laying up to 22 clutches of eggs, depending on food intake. After laying her eggs, the mantis has typically two weeks of life left. Liske and Davis (1984) studies of Praying
Mantids

FEEDING BEHAVIOUR AMAZING LEGS The two front legs are used for capturing and seizing prey. The lower tibia of the legs has sharp spines, which aid in pinching the prey to keep it still. These spines fold up into the femur to create a "jackknife" effect, which gives the mantis its distinctive praying position.

The master of camouflage, the mantid hunts using the ambush approach. It waits motionless for unsuspecting prey to come within strike range. The mantis will often slowly undulate, which is thought to mimic wind-blown foliage. When it does attack, it does so at speeds so fast humans can't perceive it. The strike takes a mere 30-50 onethousandth of a second. The mantis impales its prey in the spines between the lower tibia and upper femur of its front limbs. They are entirely predatory and carnivorous, and have been seen to take small birds as well as insects.