Shield Mantis - Tobi

The Giant Shield Mantis is one of the largest mantis species in the world, reaching up to 5 inches in length. As its name implies it has a shield or leaf-shaped abdomen and their coloration ranges from yellow to green to bluish. They are native to southeast Asia and are commonly found all over China, Borneo, and Thailand. Males are known to be more feisty than females and generally live shorter lives averaging about one year, whereas females usually live up to 18 months. Females are known to cannibalize males after mating.

There are two species of praying mantis found in Michigan and neither of them are native: the Chinese Mantis and the European Mantis. In both species, as most other mantis species, the females are noticeably larger than the males. In some species, females have small wings and cannot fly while males can – males would need means to travel to females for mating. They feed on a variety of different animals such as flies, bees, wasps, beetles, butterflies and moths, dragonflies and even hummingbirds.

Tobi is Sarett Nature Center’s resident Giant Shield Mantis; they were purchased for educational purposes at the same time we got the Brazilian Black Tarantula. Our friend Angie over at Asylum Pets supplied us with the up and coming invertebrate ambassadors. Tobi was about one inch long when we brought him home to Sarett – now they are almost 4 inches long! Our mantis eats crickets, mealworms and dubia cockroaches every 2-3 days.