''Amantis nawai'' is a small

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...

native to eastern Asia.

Description

*Females: , micropterous *Males: in length, micropterous or macropterous

Distribution

It is found in China, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan; in Japan on

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

, and

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

.Jeon JB, Lee SH and Lee SM. 1999. Notes on the praying mantids (Mantodea) in Korea. Insecta Koreana 16(2): 225-229.

Habitat

They are found on the forest floor and low trees, where they eat insects such as ants. Often found around ''

Machilus thunbergii ''Machilus thunbergii'' (syn. ''Persea thunbergii''), the Japanese bay tree, red machilus, or tabunoki, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant Family (biology), family that in ...

'' and ''

Castanopsis sieboldii ''Castanopsis sieboldii'', also known as the Itajii chinkapin or Itajii, is a species of evergreen tree that lives in subtropical eastern Asia. This is a climax species that is commonly found in the Japanese temperate rainforest. Specimens are al ...

'', and other lush vegetation shaded by broadleaf evergreen trees and large rocks. Oothecae are found on rocks and tree bark.

References

nawai Mantodea of Asia Insects of China Insects of Japan Insects of Korea Insects of Sri Lanka Insects of Taiwan Insects described in 1908 {{Mantidae-stub