Purplewinged Mantid - Tenodera australasiae

Family MANTIDAE

This page contains information and pictures about Purplewinged Mantids that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. Purplewinged Mantids are also known as Australian Mantids.


Length 100mm

The adult Purplewinged Mantids are large in size with long and narrow body. Their wings are purple to dark brown in colour, with grass green on outer edges. The head and body are light brown in colour with green dark eyes.



Like all others mantids, Purplewinged Mantids have long thorax and strong spiny forelegs. They also have very mobile triangular shaped head with distinctive ocelli and large compound eyes. Their segmented antenna are medium to long in length.



Purplewinged Mantids are not hard to be found in Brisbane bushes. They usually be seen hunting on stems or dense grasses. However, they are well camouflaged and blend in with the plants. They always state motionless, some luck may be necessary to spot them.



The mantids usually found hunting amount tall grasses. They usually hang upside down on the top of the plant and attack prey below. This makes sense because drop down to attack can be a lightening fast action.



Notice the front parts of its eyes are green in colour. This help in camouflage when view in front.


Nymph. length 70mm

The above picture shows a Purplewinged Mantid nymph. We found it in the bush. It was hard to be noticed while it was waiting near the flower. We saw many butterflies visited there frequently. We saw the mantid nymph while we were taking pictures (smaller photo) of a Wanderer butterfly.


Nymph. length 70mm

Purplewinged Mantid nymph is yellow-brown in colour with light green eyes. There is the dark brown strip on the back centre along the body. Its wings are not yet fully developed.


Purplewinged Mantid Ootheca, 25mm x 15mm

Early July 2006 we found a Purplewinged Mantid ootheca in bushland near Alexandra Hill, Brisbane. It was on a small Acacia tree, about 1 meter above ground. It was not covered by any leaves and easily be noticed.


Purplewinged Mantid 1st instars on my finger, body length 6mm

We collected and kept the ootheca at home in a jar. Those small mantids came out on end July. There were about a hundred of them running around. Those Purplewinged Mantid 1st instars look exactly as their parents, with a purple strip on their back along the body.

The ootheca that we found were usually infected by the Parasitic Wasps (Podagrion sp.) in some degree (see mantid main page). This ootheca seems did not have this problem for it did not have any small round wasp-emerged holes..

Reference:
1. Tenodera australasiae - Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Heritage.
2. Tenodera australasiae - Australian Insect Common Names, 16 June 2005
3. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 352, 356.
4. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p93.
5. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996 p242.