The Differences Between a Praying Mantis's & a Stick Insect's Metamorphosis

Praying mantises and stick insects are both protective of themselves and good at hiding and disguising. The two insects develop in a similar way but adapt to their surroundings differently. Learn from the way the two handle their eggs and keep their young safe from predators.

  1. About Praying Mantises

    • There are about 2,200 kinds of praying mantises. They come from the class Insecta, and order Mantodea. Praying mantises are relatives of cockroaches and termites. Mantises live in shrubs, grass and trees where they can hide from predators.

    About Stick Insects

    • There are about 2,500 species of stick and leaf insects. Stick insects are from the class Insecta and order Phasmatodea. They take camouflage to a new level by resembling sticks or twigs. They can be in colors of brown, green, gray, black or blue. Stick insects hide in plain sight by standing out in the open, very still.

    Metamorphosis of Praying Mantises

    • Praying Mantises go through hemimetabolism, or incomplete metamorphosis. This process is completed in three steps: egg, nymph and adult. Females lay several egg cases (oothecae) a few days after mating. The female will hang upside down from a branch, produce a white foam and form the egg case from that foam. She'll lay her eggs and the foam will harden to form a protective shield around the eggs. Each case contains up to 200 eggs. These eggs will hatch four to six weeks later and the tiny mantids will start to molt, or shed their first exoskeleton. The female won't stick around to meet or raise her children. She won't even live much longer. Siblings sometimes feast on one another as their first meal. The growing mantids, or nymphs, look like their adult counterparts, but smaller. The mantids get bigger with repeated growth and molting of the exoskeleton to allow further development. Each stage is called an "instar." When the mantid has developed wings, the instars have completed.

    Metamorphosis of Stick Insects

    • The stick insects also undergo incomplete metamorphosis and have three stages of metamorphosis. There are a few differences between the two insects. Female stick insects can mate to produce eggs, or they can produce young without a mate. Eggs produced without a male will always be female and young produced with a male have a 50 percent chance of being male. Females use two methods of concealing their eggs. Sometimes the female drops eggs on the ground in various random places to prevent predators from feeding on a nest of eggs. The eggs look like fallen seeds. Other times, the female hides the eggs in the ground, in plants, bark or on the underside of leaves. The eggs of some species are covered by a hard shell and a "capitulum" node on one end that contains fats and nutrients. Ants are lured to eat the treat and discard the hard shell. The egg then incubates where it was dropped in the garbage heap and the new nymph later emerges. Some species have wings and some don't.