From Wikimalia
| The Bug Collection
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| Praya Mantis
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| Habitat: | Forest and jungles flanking Katavyan's Praya River.
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| Description: | Growing up to a rand and a half (equal to fifteen thums), this long slender winged insect is one of the most formidable insect in the known world. Its triangular head is highly articulated, capable of turning to spot a full 360 degrees, bringing its lage protruding eyes sharply to bear. Frighteningly fast antennae flicker precisely to any environmental stimuli, perceived across astonishing distances. So placed are its six legs as to acquire a nearly humanoid upright posture, its forward legs appear to have a supplicant posture like its cousin the Praying mantis
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| Notes: | Their prey, for this is surely one of nature's most perfect predators, covers a wide range of the animal kingdom. There is virtually no insect that can withstand them, save those of the ginormous variety, and these mantises feed on mice, voles, baby birds, lizards, rats, and exclusively known to this river mantis, fish. It is probable that their diet also includes frogs, small snakes, spiders and small salamanders. And its own kind.
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Most know about some of the sexual habits of mantises, including that the female will often eat the male during copulation, starting with the head (while the sexual organs continue to function---typical male), and that the female of the species outgrows the male by nearly twenty percent. They are moderately capable of sustained flight, noted to be able to cross the wide Praya River, but they seem to prefer to be ground-bound, or tree-bound, wall-bound, as well as camouflaged and motionless when they strike. Praya Mantises do not generally live long in captivity, but some are reputed to have lifespans of decades. Extraordinary caution must be used if attempting to collect this specie!
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