Iris oratoria, known by the common name Mediterranean mantis, due to humans first studying it in lands around the Mediterranean Sea, is a species of praying mantis. Its range is expanding in the Middle East, Western Asia and the United States.
Iris oratoria
An adult female Iris oratoria in a deimatic or threat pose
Iris oratoria eating a bee
Iris oratoria adult female
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.
Mantis
Wing arrangement of a typical mantis, adult male Raptrix perspicua
The raptorial foreleg, showing the unusually long coxa, which, together with the trochanter, gives the impression of a femur. The femur itself is the proximal segment of the grasping part of the leg.
Head of Archimantis latistyla, showing the compound eyes and labrum
