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biodiversity explorer

the web of life in southern Africa

Family: Mantispidae (mantisflies)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa > Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Phylum: Arthopoda > Mandibulata > Atelocerata > Panhexapoda > Hexapoda > Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota > Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola > Holometabola > Neuropterida > Neuroptera 

Mantispidae, Wakkerstroom, Mpumalanga, South Africa. [image Peter Webb ©, from iNaturalist]

Mantispids have evolved predatory forelegs in the same way as praying mantises. Larvae feed on eggs and young of spiders.

Publications

  • Redborg, K.E. 1998. Biology of the Mantispidae. Annual Review of Entomology 43: 175-194.