Wild Neighbors: Conehead Mantis (Empusa pennata) On Our Portuguese Homestead
- Herman Kraut
- 1 day ago
- 7 min read
Common Name: Conehead Mantis
Scientific Name: Empusa pennata
Animal Group: Invertebrate (Insect, order Mantodea)
Status in Portugal: Native and resident
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Some wildlife encounters happen because we go looking for them. Others apparently decide that our laundry is suitable habitat.
At the end of May, I found a male Conehead Mantis sitting on my work hoodie, which I had left on a chair on our mobile home porch. At first glance, the bizarre head, impossibly thin body and huge feather-like antennae made it look less like a familiar praying mantis and more like something assembled from spare insect parts.
It turned out to be Empusa pennata, a native Mediterranean mantis found throughout Portugal. Adults appear mainly from late spring into summer, so our end-of-May encounter fits its seasonal cycle particularly well. Portuguese records describe the species as widespread across the country, although its excellent camouflage means it can be remarkably easy to overlook.
For us, it is another useful predator sharing the Quinta. Conehead Mantises hunt other invertebrates without asking for irrigation, fertilizer, housing or even a line in the homestead budget.
If strange-looking insects are becoming part of your homestead entertainment too, have a look at the Recommended Books and Resources section near the end. We have included a few useful guides and observation tools that make identifying Mediterranean insects much easier without needing to turn every encounter into an internet detective case.
Quick Facts At A Glance
Characteristic | Information |
Common Name | Conehead Mantis |
Scientific Name | Empusa pennata |
Size | Usually about 50–70 mm; females can be larger |
Activity Pattern | Mainly active among vegetation during warm conditions |
Typical Diet | Flies, grasshoppers and other small arthropods |
Predators (Portugal) | Insect-eating birds, reptiles, spiders and other predators |
Predators (General) | Birds, reptiles, mammals and larger arthropods |
Preferred Habitat | Dry grassland, scrub, sunny clearings and Mediterranean vegetation |
Human Risk Level | Very low |
Role On Our Homestead | Native ambush predator helping regulate insect populations |
How To Recognize Empusa pennata On A Mediterranean Homestead
Visual ID
The Conehead Mantis earns its name immediately. Rising from the top of its small, elongated head is a pointed conical projection that gives the insect a distinctly horned appearance.
Its body is extremely slender compared with the more robust Mantis religiosa. The thorax is long and narrow, while the middle and hind legs carry irregular lobes and projections that help break up the animal's outline. Colour can range through brown, beige, green and occasionally pinkish tones, making Empusa pennata exceptionally difficult to distinguish from dry stems or fresh vegetation. Portuguese identification keys specifically use the conical head process and leaf-like body projections as identifying features.
Our individual was an adult male, and the giveaway was spectacular: long, feathery, bipectinate antennae. "Bipectinate" simply means that each antenna carries comb-like projections on both sides. Females have much simpler, thread-like antennae.
Adult males are also lighter and more capable fliers than females. The University of Évora notes that adults occur roughly from May through August, which places our late-May visitor right at the beginning of the main adult season.
Nymphs look different again. They lack developed wings, and their abdomen often curves upward dramatically, giving them an even stranger appearance.
Sounds & Behavior
Conehead Mantises are quiet hunters. There is no song announcing that one has moved into the rosemary.
Instead, they rely heavily on stillness and camouflage. They wait among grasses, flowers and shrubs with their raptorial front legs folded beneath the head. When suitable prey comes within range, those spined forelegs shoot forward and trap it.
Their swaying movements can also help them disappear among vegetation disturbed by wind. If approached, a mantis may remain completely motionless rather than immediately fleeing.
Male Empusa pennata are comparatively strong fliers, so our porch visitor may simply have flown onto the chair and selected my hoodie as a temporary resting place. Apparently work clothes are close enough to Mediterranean scrub when you are a mantis.
Tracks, Droppings & Other Signs
There will usually be no useful tracks to follow. At roughly a few centimetres long and spending much of its time on vegetation, a Conehead Mantis leaves little readable evidence in ordinary garden soil.
Droppings are also tiny, dark pellets and are unlikely to provide a practical means of identification.
A much more interesting sign is an ootheca, the protective egg case produced by female mantises and attached to vegetation. Empusa pennata has an unusual life cycle for a European mantis. Eggs hatch during the warmer part of the year and the young nymphs, rather than the eggs, survive through winter before maturing the following spring.
As with any wildlife observation, we wash our hands after handling insects, vegetation or containers where animals have been resting.
Where Conehead Mantis Lives: Portugal and Beyond
Empusa pennata is a Mediterranean species associated with warm, relatively dry environments. In Portugal it is considered widespread and has been recorded throughout the country. Typical habitat includes sunny grasslands, scrub, open woodland, rough vegetation and other places with enough structural complexity for camouflage and ambush hunting.
Beyond Portugal, its range extends through Spain, southern France, Italy and parts of North Africa and the wider Mediterranean region.
The species is currently assessed globally as Least Concern by the IUCN. That does not mean every local population is immune to change, but it is not presently considered globally threatened.
So far, our confirmed male has provided one memorable observation: late May, sitting quietly on a work hoodie on our mobile home porch. Considering how cryptic this species is, there may well have been others watching us long before we noticed them.
What Conehead Mantis Eats (And What Eats Conehead Mantis)
Diet
Conehead Mantises are predators. They wait for smaller arthropods to move within striking distance and seize them using the powerful, spined front legs typical of mantises. Recorded prey includes flying insects, grasshoppers and other suitably sized invertebrates.
That makes them useful residents around a diverse organic garden. They are not specialist pest-control contractors, however. A mantis does not distinguish between an insect we call a "pest" and one we call "beneficial." If it can catch something and eat it, that is a convincing ecological argument.
Their real value is broader. Native predators like Empusa pennata contribute to a balanced food web in which no single group of insects operates entirely unchecked.
Predators & Threats
Being an ambush predator does not prevent a mantis from becoming somebody else's lunch.
Birds, reptiles, spiders and other insect-eating animals can prey upon mantises, especially juveniles. Camouflage therefore works in both directions: it helps the mantis approach prey and helps prevent predators from noticing the mantis.
On a homestead, avoidable threats include broad-spectrum insecticides, repeated mowing of every patch of rough vegetation, and removing all dry stems and scrub that provide hunting and overwintering habitat.
Road traffic, intensive land management and habitat simplification can add pressure at a wider landscape level.
Living With Conehead Mantis On An Off-Grid Homestead
There is very little downside to having Empusa pennata around.
Helpful Roles
Natural insect predation: Mantises consume a variety of arthropods and contribute to natural population control.
Food-web diversity: They are predators themselves while also feeding birds, reptiles and other wildlife.
Biodiversity indicator: Finding a native Mediterranean predator tells us our land still provides enough prey and vegetation structure to support more than just cultivated plants.
Potential Issues
For humans, crops and chickens, problems are essentially negligible.
Conehead Mantises do not eat plants, damage timber, raid chicken coops or burrow into vegetable beds. They may take pollinating insects as well as garden pests, which is simply part of being a generalist predator rather than an employee of the organic gardening department.
Practical Coexistence Strategies
Leave some rough vegetation.
Not every corner needs mowing. Patches of dry grass, flowering plants and scrub create valuable hunting habitat.
Avoid broad-spectrum pesticides.
Killing the prey community also removes the food supply for predators.
Check before cutting vegetation.
Mantises and their egg cases can be attached to stems and easily disappear into a pile headed for the shredder.
Keep flowering habitat diverse.
Flower-rich areas support insects at several levels of the food web, including both prey and predators.
Observe rather than relocate unnecessarily.
A mantis sitting quietly on a plant is generally exactly where it needs to be.
And if one chooses your hoodie instead, perhaps leave the jacket wildlife-friendly for five more minutes.
Living alongside predators like the Conehead Mantis does not require much management. Mostly, it requires resisting our urge to manage absolutely everything.
Herman’s Tough Kraut Field Notes: Wild Neighbors Edition – Conehead Mantis
Our first adult male immediately raised the usual collection of homestead troubleshooting questions. Is it dangerous? Is it rare? Should we move it? And, importantly, can I eventually have my hoodie back?
Here are the practical answers.
Q: Is a Conehead Mantis dangerous to people?
A: No. It is not venomous and has no sting. Like many insects, a mantis may defend itself if grabbed or squeezed, so observation is better than unnecessary handling.
Q: How can I tell a male Empusa pennata from a female?
A: Look at the antennae. Adult males have unmistakably long, feather-like antennae, while females have much simpler thread-like antennae. Males are also slimmer and fly more readily.
Q: Should we move one if we find it near the house?
A: Usually there is no need. If it is somewhere vulnerable, encourage it gently onto a plant or container and move it to nearby vegetation rather than carrying it far from where it was found.
Q: Will Conehead Mantises protect our vegetable garden from pests?
A: They can certainly eat insects that gardeners consider pests, but they are generalist predators. Think of them as one part of a healthy predator community rather than a biological pesticide with a job description.
Q: How can we encourage Conehead Mantises on the homestead?
A: Leave patches of rough vegetation, grow plenty of flowering plants, avoid broad-spectrum pesticides and allow some stems to remain undisturbed. Habitat usually does more for beneficial wildlife than trying to attract one specific species.
For more field guides, observation gear and the tools we actually find useful around the Quinta, visit our Tough Kraut Resources Toolkit.
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