Devil's Mare

• Unlike most European mantises, which overwinter as an ootheca, this one overwinters as a nymph, clinging to the vegetation with its activity almost at a standstill.
• The males' conspicuous feathery antennae let them locate females by their pheromone from a long way off.
• Its outline, with the curved body and the crown on its head, makes it unmistakable among the mantises of south-eastern Europe.
• It is the sister species of the conehead mantis and very similar to it, with the same cephalic horn and the same feathery antennae in the male.
• Like it, it overwinters as a nymph and can be found active in the cold months of the eastern Mediterranean.
• Its camouflage combines form and behaviour: the body imitates a dry stalk and the rhythmic swaying completes the effect.
• It is told apart from Empusa pennata above all by details of the cephalic horn and the colouring, and by its more easterly distribution.
• It is a strict ambush hunter: it does not pursue, it waits.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Dry scrub and sunny grassland of the Balkans and the Middle East

Sexual maturity

Mating can be repeated several times; the males die shortly after mating and the females after laying

Gestation / incubation

The female lays the eggs on the vegetation; the nymphs hatch in July and spend the winter in a pre-adult stage, in diapause, reaching adulthood in May

Sources consulted: Battiston et al., Mantids of the Euro-Mediterranean Area; Ehrmann, Mantodea der Welt; Lista Roja UICN (Battiston et al. 2020), evaluacion de Empusa fasciata; Ficha de especie de Empusa fasciata (observaciones de Croacia al golfo de Trieste); Ficha de especie de Empusa fasciata

Best time: Adults from May onwards, on south-facing slopes of flysch and karst, in open scrubland, where it can occur alongside Mantis religiosa

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.