T.E.R:R.A.I.N - Taranaki Educational Resource: Research, Analysis and Information Network

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Mantodea
Family: Mantidae
Genus: Orthodera
Species: Ministralis
Scientific name: Orthodera novaezealandiae
Common Name: New Zealand Praying Mantis, Garden Mantis, Green Mantis

The New Zealand Praying Mantis is usually bright green in colour (rarely yellow) with a thorax that is broad and flat and nearly the same width a the abdomen. They have a bright blue and purple patch on the inside of their front legs. They are common amongst garden foliage, were they food ambushes small insects.
A mantis will stop eating a few days prior to its molt. Mantises molt about every 2 weeks as babies and the time in between each molt increases. As they get older…so their last moult into adulthood can sometimes take as long as 3 weeks. It takes about 7 moults for females and about 6 for males.
They lay eggs in foamy egg case called an ootheca. The ootheca has a woody appearance and is usually attached to a leaf, stem, wall or fence. The young hatch out as small versions of the adult.