praying mantis: see mantid.

mantis shrimp, marine crustacean characterized by a pair of enlarged appendages, called maxillipeds, that form powerful claws for seizing prey. The last two segments of each of these legs are strong and sharp, and the end segment is folded back over the next segment to make a scissorslike cut. Mantis shrimps have stalked eyes and flattened abdomens with appendages bearing gills. They prefer warm shallow seas. A number of species are quite large, reaching 1 ft (30 cm) or more in size. Mantis shrimps are an important sea food outside the Western Hemisphere. They are classified separately from either true shrimps or praying mantises, whose forelimbs the maxillipeds superficially resemble. Mantis shrimps are grouped in the phylum Arthropoda, subphylum Crustacea, class Malacostraca.

mantis: see mantid.

or praying mantis

Any of more than 1,500 species of the insect suborder Mantodea (order Orthoptera). The long-bodied, slow-moving mantis (or mantid) eats only living insects, using its large forelimbs to capture and hold its struggling prey. The female is likely to eat the male after mating. The European Mantis religiosa and the Chinese mantis (Tenodera aridifolia sinensis) have been introduced to North America. The latter grows to 3–8 in. (8–20 cm) long. The name mantis (“diviner”) reflects an ancient Greek belief in its supernatural powers.

Learn more about mantis with a free trial on Britannica.com.