If you’ve ever kept a praying mantis as a pet or watched one carefully in the garden, you might have noticed at some point that it looks a slightly different shade than it did before. And if that’s happened to you, it’s completely understandable to start wondering whether praying mantises can actually change color. The answer is yes — but it’s a lot more interesting and a lot more nuanced than most people expect. Read on to find out more.
Can Praying Mantises Change Color?
Yes, praying mantises can change color, but not in the dramatic, instant way you might be thinking of. While in its nymph phase, the praying mantis can take on a brownish hue after molting. However, this change occurs gradually over several days, so this ability is not useful for quick camouflage.
So forget the image of a chameleon switching colors in seconds. A mantis cannot instantly switch colors if it moves from a green leaf to a brown branch. Its color reflects its long-term habitat rather than its momentary position. The color change in praying mantises is a slow, biological process that is deeply tied to their growth cycle rather than an instant response to their surroundings. You can read more about that growth cycle in our article on do praying mantises shed their skin.
How Do Praying Mantises Change Color?
The key to understanding mantis color change is understanding molting. Every time a mantis sheds its exoskeleton to grow, something interesting happens. During each molt, the mantis forms a new exoskeleton, and its color can be different from the previous one. Environmental cues during this vulnerable period directly influence the hardening exoskeleton’s color. Factors such as humidity, temperature, and ambient light affect the physiological processes involved in pigment production or distribution. Lower humidity and warmer temperatures often lead to browner coloration, while higher humidity may favor green.
The science behind exactly how this works is fascinating. The coloration of a praying mantis is largely determined by pigments incorporated into its exoskeleton. These pigments can include ommochromes, pteridines, and tetrapyrroles, and the specific hues a mantis can display are generally limited to shades of green, brown, and sometimes yellow, depending on the species. Research published on PMC by the National Institutes of Health documented exactly this kind of color transition, noting that upon molting to a new instar, a nymph can shift from being predominantly green to an intermediate greenish-brown overall coloration.
What Triggers The Color Change?
It’s not just the molting process itself that decides what color a mantis ends up. Several environmental factors all play a role in nudging the outcome one way or another. Indiana Public Media’s A Moment of Science explains that the temperature, humidity, and light intensity of their habitat all play a role in a mantis’s color adaptations.
Research covered by the Daily Hampshire Gazette confirms this, noting that climatic variables are a causal factor in mantis color change, and while sunlight and humidity can trigger a praying mantis to shift its color after a molt, this adaptation is likely a response to predation pressures.
In practical terms, this means a mantis living in lush green vegetation is more likely to develop a green coloration, while one living among dry grass, bark, or dead leaves is more likely to come out brown. The environment essentially influences what color the mantis produces during the window when its new exoskeleton is hardening after a molt.
Which Species Can Change Color?
Not every mantis species has this ability, and the extent of color change varies quite a lot between those that do. The European mantis is known to change its color from brown to green, mostly found in brown-grass habitats before transforming into a green-colored body while living within green grass. The Chinese mantis is also known to change its color from brown to green to blend in with surroundings and avoid predators. The Carolina mantis can change its color from green to brown to adapt to its surroundings, and the African mantis can similarly shift from green to brown.
Some of the more visually dramatic species take camouflage even further. The orchid mantis has evolved to look almost exactly like a flower petal, using its appearance to lure prey rather than simply hide from it. And species like the ghost praying mantis and the giant dead leaf mantis take the concept of blending in to a completely different level — they don’t just match their surroundings, they mimic specific objects in nature with extraordinary precision.
Why Do Praying Mantises Change Color?
The short answer is survival. The primary reason praying mantises adapt their coloration is for camouflage, a strategy known as crypsis. Blending seamlessly into their surroundings helps them ambush unsuspecting prey and evade detection by predators. A mantis matched to its habitat can remain invisible, allowing it to wait for an insect to come within striking distance. Green mantises are often found in leafy vegetation, while brown or grey individuals inhabit woody stems or dry grasses.
This ability to blend in is one of the biggest reasons mantises are such effective predators despite being completely venomless — something we cover in detail in our article on are praying mantises venomous. Their camouflage essentially does half the hunting work for them by making them invisible to prey until it’s far too late to escape.
Can A Praying Mantis Change Color Outside Of Molting?
This is where things get a little more nuanced. Once the exoskeleton has hardened after a molt, the mantis cannot change color until the next shedding. Any perceived shifts are due to dehydration, aging of the cuticle, or lighting — not active pigment change.
So if your pet mantis looks like it has shifted slightly in shade between molts, it’s most likely a trick of the light or a gradual drying of the cuticle rather than an actual biological color change. The real color decisions happen at each molt and not between them. This is also why getting the conditions right in your mantis’s enclosure matters so much — our guide on how to heat a praying mantis enclosure is a great resource if you want to make sure temperature and humidity are dialled in correctly.
Conclusion
Praying mantises can absolutely change color, but it’s a slow, deliberate biological process tied to molting rather than an instant response like you’d see in a chameleon. Temperature, humidity, light intensity, and the environment all influence what color a mantis develops each time it sheds its skin. For these insects, being the right color isn’t just cosmetic — it’s one of their most important survival tools. If you want to keep learning about mantis behavior and biology, our guides on do praying mantises spit and the praying mantis lifespan are great next reads.