praying mantis

plural praying mantises · plural praying mantes

1. Any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the order Mantodea that have a prayer-like stance.

   When the female praying mantis is mating, she does not bite the head off the male with one swift snip: she chomps into it, like an apple. It appears to have the texture of a honeydew melon.

   2021 May 27, Helen Sullivan, “A praying mantis: she bites into her mate’s head like an apple and cleans her face ‘like a cat’”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2023

   1 more example

   Scientists have discovered that female praying mantises who eat their mates after sex produce a greater number of eggs than those who do not, with the bodies of the ill-fated males used to aid their production.

   2016 June 28, Nicola Davis, “Having your partner for dinner? Mantis cannibalism boosts fertility – study”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2017

2. regionalEuropean mantis: a mantid of the species Mantis religiosa.
3. broadlyA woman who preys on men (from the idea that female praying mantises eat males after sex).