Praying Mantises is considered ‘spiritual insects,’ some people believe it to be good luck or bad depending on their culture.

Praying mantises have a strange posture and with their frozen stillness. Some Christians believe that the praying mantis represents spiritualism or holiness due to their prominent front legs, which bend and are held together like praying hands.

Should you find one in your home, it may mean that the angels are watching over you.

Females are known to bite the males’ heads off and sometimes eat her mate just after or even during mating. You would never have guessed these little guys were so gruesome based on their slow-motion moves and poses they strike for the camera.

Photographer Pang Way captures various praying mantis of different patterns and colors, some with wings and without. As Pang Way specializes in close-up insect photography, he has captured some strange and funny moments.

You can view them at a whole new level of weirdness in these slow-moving, alien eyes in the photos below.

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way

©Pang Way – Bark mantis

Did you know?

Praying mantis scan their surrounding by turning their heads 180 degrees.

Praying mantis have five eyes, yes, you read right, two large compound eyes, and three other simple eyes located between them.

The black dots on the praying mantis’s eyes are an optical illusion, called a pseudo pupil; they occur due to light being absorbed and reflected in the eye, which results in the illusion that the eyes are always looking at you.

A mantis’ lifespan depends on the species; smaller ones may live 4–8 weeks, while larger species may live 4–6 months.

They prey on other insects, fish, frogs, lizards, small birds, and even each other.

Most adult have wings. Females normally cannot fly with their wings, but males can.

For more info Pang Way.