How does the praying mantis see?
The praying mantis (Sphodromantis lineola) is a insect in the order Mantodea. Its eyes belong to the vision type Hunter insect (dragonfly, mantis): compound eye with an acute zone, near-360 field and many opsins (dragonfly), 3D stereo (mantis).
Measured in this species: sharpness and foveas. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
See your photo as the praying mantisThis species is part of the full catalogue in the tool (full unlock). Your photo stays on your device.
What stands out
- It has one receptor class for colour, so it sees brightness but no hue.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 1 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 55.3 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks about the same.[7][8]
- Activity pattern: diurnal.
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 1 receptor class: 515 nm (MWS (green)) receptor set of nearest measured relative Tenodera sinensis (same family Mantidae) | Estimated | [1] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 1 cycles per degree species-v1.csv (value measured in this species; not in tidy tables) | Measured (not re-verified) | [2] |
| Angle between facets 0.9° median of 2 relatives in family Mantidae: Orthodera ministralis, Tenodera australasiae | Estimated | [3] | |
| Eye type compound eye | |||
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | Number of foveas 1 species-v1.csv text: 1 frontal acute zone ("fovea") per compound eye | Measured | [4][2] |
| Fovea type acute zone | Measured (not re-verified) | [2] | |
| Night vision | Activity pattern diurnal group default: mode of tier-A values in vision type V25 within phylum Arthropoda (2 species: Anax junius, Hemicordulia tau) | Group default | [5] |
| Rods vs cones no rods (invertebrate photoreceptors) | Group default | [5] | |
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 55.3 Hz median of 1 relatives in family Mantidae: Tenodera australasiae | Estimated | [6] |
Related animals
- Purple-winged mantis same vision type
- Banded flower mantis same vision type
- Dragonfly (Sympetrum rubicundulum) same vision type
- Australian emperor dragonfly same vision type
- Autumn darter dragonfly same vision type
- Dragonfly (Sympetrum flaveolum) same vision type
More insects: all insects with measured vision data.
Sources
- van der Kooi CJ, Stavenga DG, Arikawa K, Belusic G, Kelber A. 2021. Evolution of insect color vision: from spectral sensitivity to visual ecology. Annu Rev Entomol 66:435-461. Supplementary table. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-061720-071644
- species_v1:Nityananda et al. 2016 (citing ref [21])
- Caves EM, Brandley NC, Johnsen S (2018) Visual acuity and the evolution of signals. Trends Ecol Evol 33:358-372. Supplementary Tables S1-S3.. doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.03.001
- Nityananda V, Bissianna G, Tarawneh G, Read J. 2016. Small or far away? Size and distance perception in the praying mantis. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 371(1697):20150262. doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2015.0262
- Longcore T. 2023. A compendium of photopigment peak sensitivities and visual spectral response curves of terrestrial wildlife to guide design of outdoor nighttime lighting. Basic Appl Ecol 73:40-50. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2023.09.002. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8432720
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?