The bark mantises and ground mantises (

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Tarachodes'') are

praying mantises 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 a ...

now placed in the family

Eremiaphilidae Eremiaphilidae is a small Old World family of praying mantids, based on the type genus '' Eremiaphila''. As part of a major revision of mantid taxonomy, this family now contains the subfamily Tarachodinae, which includes tribes and genera prev ...

Mantodea Species File (Version 5.0/5.0, retrieved 12 July 2020)
/ref> that are native to the

Afrotropics The Afrotropical realm is one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Sub-Saharan Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly known as the Ethiopi ...

. They are generally light brown but more silvery on the wings. The wings are attractively reticulated, and the veins may be mottled dark and pale. The head is wider than the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

, which is rounded anteriorly, and doesn't overlap with the rear of the head. The pronotum is depressed, with its sides more or less parallel, and only a weak supra-coxal bulge is present. The anterior tibia are flattened and greatly expanded longitudinally, and the tibial claw does not fit into a pit between the 1st and 2nd external spines of the anterior femora, as in a few mantis groups. These mantises are

ambush predator Ambush predators or sit-and-wait predators are carnivorous animals that capture their prey via stealth, luring or by (typically instinctive) strategies utilizing an element of surprise. Unlike pursuit predators, who chase to capture prey u ...

s and many species are cryptically coloured to blend in with their surroundings. Some have brightly coloured undersides which are displayed to startle and drive off assailants. Some species such as '' Tarachodes maurus'' brood their eggs, and others, such as '' Tarachodes afzelii'', not only brood their eggs but continue to guard their young after they hatch out. File:Tarachodes sp, d, Pretoria.jpg, File:Tarachodes sp, g, Pretoria.jpg, File:Tarachodes sp, j, Pretoria.jpg, File:Tarachodes sp, i, Pretoria.jpg,

Species

Members of this genus may be called Bark mantises List of mantises and common names or Ground mantises. Tanzanian Ground Mantis

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7345877 Tarachodidae Mantodea genera Taxa named by Hermann Burmeister

Species

See also

References