{"id":185,"date":"2009-09-25T08:54:13","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T12:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=185"},"modified":"2009-09-25T08:54:13","modified_gmt":"2009-09-25T12:54:13","slug":"la-mantide-religiosa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/la-mantide-religiosa\/","title":{"rendered":"La Mantide Religiosa"},"content":{"rendered":"

September is the time of year when we start noticing le mantidi religiose<\/strong> (the praying mantises), which are very common here in Italy. I had always wondered why they seemed to appear so late in the year, and where they arrived from, but a quick investigation revealed the simple fact that they are already present from about May or June, when they hatch out of their ooteche<\/strong> (a kind of hard cocoon containing up to 200 eggs), but are simply too small and too well camuffate<\/strong> (camouflaged) to be easily seen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Le Mantidi religiose take their name from the fact that they keep their two powerful front legs folded before them in an attitude of prayer in preparation for a lightning strike on their preda<\/strong> (prey). Their leafy green coloring, and plant like shape enables them to camuffarsi<\/strong> (camouflage themselves) easily amongst the foliage as they patiently await an unsuspecting mosca<\/strong> (fly) or other small insect. They are able to rotate their strange alien like head through 180 degrees in order to detect their pasto<\/strong> (meal), and when the opportune moment arrives their zampe anteriori<\/strong> (front legs), which are armed with sharp spines, spring out to grab the unsuspecting prey, which has the pleasure of being eaten alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the worst is yet to come. Let\u2019s just say that the mating habits of le mantidi leave a lot to be desired, and if you want to know exactly what they get up to you will have to do a bit of homework and translate this!:<\/span><\/p>\n

L’accoppiamento delle mantidi \u00e8 caratterizzato da cannibalismo: la femmina, dopo essersi accoppiata, o anche durante l’atto, divora il maschio partendo dalla testa mentre gli organi genitali proseguono nell’accoppiamento. Questo comportamento \u00e8 dovuto al bisogno di proteine nella rapida produzione di uova; prova ne sia che la femmina allevata in cattivit\u00e0, essendo ben nutrita, spesso “risparmia” il maschio.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Buon appetito!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

September is the time of year when we start noticing le mantidi religiose (the praying mantises), which are very common here in Italy. I had always wondered why they seemed to appear so late in the year, and where they arrived from, but a quick investigation revealed the simple fact that they are already present…<\/p>\n

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