An insect resembling an orchid flower, another virtually disappearing among dead leaves and one whose unusual appearance recalls Darth Vader. Prague Zoo is putting the extraordinary diversity of mantises in the spotlight with a new exhibition featuring 30 species from four continents.
The exhibition, hosted at the Gočár Houses Gallery in the upper part of the zoo, opened on 29 August and will remain accessible until the end of September, with admission included in the zoo ticket.
Among the protagonists is a species much closer to home: the European mantis (Mantis religiosa), the only native representative of this group of predatory insects in Czechia and the country’s Insect of the Year 2026.
“The flagship species of the exhibition is, perhaps unexpectedly, the native Czech species, the European mantis,” said Vojtěch Víta, Prague Zoo’s specialist invertebrate keeper and author of the exhibition. “Although almost everyone probably knows its name or appearance, fewer people know that today, as a result of climate change, it has expanded from southern Moravia as far as the Krkonoše Mountains. We would like to draw attention to it, help dispel the myths surrounding it and present it as a fascinating neighbour that there is absolutely no need to fear.”
Mantises that mimic flowers and dead leaves
Visitors encounter the European mantis in the first terrarium at the entrance. The opening section also features two species that entomologists are already observing just beyond the Czech border, meaning their arrival in the country could be expected in the near future: the large Transcaucasian mantis and the smaller Spallanzani’s mantis.
Other species demonstrate how far evolution has pushed camouflage among these predators.
The Southeast Asian jeweled flower mantis has a body shape that mimics orchid flowers, while mantises belonging to the genus Deroplatys resemble dried leaves.
One of the exhibition’s most striking inhabitants is Parablepharis kuhlii, whose appearance, according to Prague Zoo, may look particularly familiar to Star Wars fans: its shape recalls Darth Vader.
Several of the unusually shaped and coloured species featured in the exhibition are rarely encountered in collections.
Searching for wild mantises in Prague
The exhibition is accompanied by a programme dedicated to introducing visitors to the biology of these insects. Guided tours with a specialist keeper are scheduled four times a week — on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 10:30.
For the first time, Prague Zoo is also organising a limited number of excursions to Sklenářka, where participants will try to find European mantises living in the wild.
The species has now become a regular inhabitant of the natural areas of Prague’s Troja district — another sign of how its distribution in Czechia has changed.
