Daniel Otte, Senior Author,   Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia David C. Eades, Principal Database Developer,   Illinois Natural History Survey Martin B.D. Stiewe, Co-author and Editor,   United Kingdom, Berkshire, Windsor With the cooperation of       The Orthopterists' Society

Idolomantis diabolica ♂ Hierodula majuscula ♀

Please note: The Mantodea Species File website and database are under development.

The Mantodea Species File (MSF) is a taxonomic database of the world's praying mantids (Order Mantodea), both of fossil and living species. The MSF has full synonymic and taxonomic information for over 2,400 valid species. A future aim of this database is to provide images of the specimens deposited in museums worldwide (especially types), as well as pictures of living praying mantids in the wild and in captivity. This database originated with Otte and Spearman`s (2005) Mantida Species File catalog.

To see information contained in the database, use the links across the top of the page.  Click on Search to find a specific taxon or other kinds of information.  Clicking on Taxa will make the order Mantodea your current taxon unless you have previously moved to a different taxon in this session.

This website and database use Species File Software.  Information about the design and use of SFS may be found on a separate website.

Other Places to Start

• Table of contents
• Help for new users
• Duplicate database to practice editing

Please send comments and questions about the database and its development to Martin B.D. Stiewe (send mail).  When referencing this website, please use the following format:  Martin B.D. Stiewe Mantodea Species File Online. Version 1.0/3.4. [retrieval date]. <http://Mantodea.SpeciesFile.org>.  Use http://Mantodea.SpeciesFile.org to bookmark this website.