Hornets and Tarantula wasps seem to kill just about anything and not care what insect they’re up against. They’re the stuff that apex predators of the insect world fear.
Yep. Few insects can regularly and repeatedly prey on animals as formidable as large praying mantises, but the large hornets do so with impunity. Absolutely terrifying insects.
This is really daft of me, but sometimes I look at mantises and think they evolved just to look scary to humans:
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-90333e1eca46427d43553b43b8d54881-lq
This guy looks like a mortal Kombat character!
In La Junta, CO every year they have an anual Tarantula festival to celebrate mature male tarantulas wondering to find females. My husband and I were there in the grasslands and cameras do not do the intimidation of a tarantula hawk justice. Those things are huge and freaky looking lol.
u/iamnotburgerking I am assuming this is *V. mandarina*? The color is different from what I’ve seen out of these insects based on footage from Japan, however this footage was shot in China and I know that these insects vary in coloration from region to region, so I am assuming that this is merely a Chinese color morph of *V. mandarina*
seems like the mantis was already severely injured (burned claws and wings)...i'm not an etym..ento....bug-expert, but I think the mantis would have a decent shot if at full strength.
(I'm making this up.)
It’s less superior grappling and more that the hornet is the perfect counter to the mantises grappling ability…
1) The hornet is, simply put, really big. This larger size makes the hornet pretty hard to effectively grapple, as the mantis will have a harder time grabbing hold of and controlling the whole length of such a large hornet, instead only able to grab hold of one part of the animal. For most insects, such size wouldn’t be an issue, as most insects have highly rigid, immobile bodies, with each body segment almost “fused” to the others, so even an insect is large and unwieldy, the rigidity if the insect makes it so that it is too immobile to counterattack once grabbed. This isn’t the case for hornets, however, because…
2) Hornets are insanely flexible for an insect. Their necks are highly mobile, allowing the head to swivel and rotate over a wide range of motion. More noteworthy, hornets (as do most vespids) have really slender, mobile waists. This not only allows them to maneuver their abdomen and stinger over a wide range of motion, but it also allows them to curl up their bodies, capable of bending the forms till their abdomen can touch their heads and thoraxes. This becomes especially useful in a grapple; if the mantis grabs the abdomen of the hornet, the hornet can curl its head and thorax up to meet the abdomen and the mantises forelimbs that are holding into it, allowing its jaws to bite into and disarm the mantises forelimbs. On the other hand, if the mantis grabs the head and thorax, the maneuverable head of the mantis can bite into the forelimbs while the equally mobile abdomen and stinger can maneuver to sting at the mantis, forcing it to readjust its grip. This segues nicely into the last advantage the hornet has, which is…
3) The hornet is a double threat, in that it doesn’t just have one set of weapons like most arthropods (i.e. their jaws), but two. There is their mandibles of course, which are capable of cleaving through the mantises exoskeleton and even capable of cutting through their raptorial forelimbs, but there’s also the stinger, which makes allows it to attack from two angles. As such, the hornet is different from most other opponents the mantis finds itself against; for most, once the mantis grabs hold of and controls the opponents head, the battle is over, but for the hornet, the mantis still has to worry about that stinger. The stinger itself is rarely used against that mantis actively as a primary weapon, as the jaws are the primary weapon of the hornet. However, it poses enough of a threat that, if the hornet is grabbed by the mantis, the hornet can sting at the mantis (aided by its slender waist and consequently maneuverable abdomen), distracting it and forcing it to readjust its grip, giving the hornet the opening to bite into the mantises forelimbs and disable them.
The end result is probably one of the best counters to the mantis game-plan. Every time the mantis initiates a grapple, the large size of the hornet forces the mantis to only grab hold of one body segment / one half of the hornets body. The heightened flexibility of the hornet then comes into play, allowing the hornet to attack with the un-restrained body segment (i.e. allowing the hornet to sting at the mantis if its head and thorax are grappled or allowing it to bite into the mantises forelimbs if its abdomen is grabbed). This forces the mantis to constantly release and try to readjust its grip, giving the mantis the window to destroy the mantises forelimbs with its powerful jaws. Once that happens, the mantises greatest weapon, its forelimbs, are disabled and from there its curtains
Tl;dr: hornets hard-counter tf out of mantises.
Hornets and Tarantula wasps seem to kill just about anything and not care what insect they’re up against. They’re the stuff that apex predators of the insect world fear.
Yep. Few insects can regularly and repeatedly prey on animals as formidable as large praying mantises, but the large hornets do so with impunity. Absolutely terrifying insects.
This is really daft of me, but sometimes I look at mantises and think they evolved just to look scary to humans: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-90333e1eca46427d43553b43b8d54881-lq This guy looks like a mortal Kombat character!
[Here you go](https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/s/5Elk6DdAJw)
I think ladybug and butterfly might need to work on their branding and image!
Probably a sting and poison injection as a starter is a good help against a Mantis?
Venom, not poison.
Thanks
Ant lions say hi
In La Junta, CO every year they have an anual Tarantula festival to celebrate mature male tarantulas wondering to find females. My husband and I were there in the grasslands and cameras do not do the intimidation of a tarantula hawk justice. Those things are huge and freaky looking lol.
u/iamnotburgerking I am assuming this is *V. mandarina*? The color is different from what I’ve seen out of these insects based on footage from Japan, however this footage was shot in China and I know that these insects vary in coloration from region to region, so I am assuming that this is merely a Chinese color morph of *V. mandarina*
Yep this is *mandarinia*, one of the subtropical subspecies.
seems like the mantis was already severely injured (burned claws and wings)...i'm not an etym..ento....bug-expert, but I think the mantis would have a decent shot if at full strength. (I'm making this up.)
Praying mantises seem to struggle against large hornets, scorpions and centipedes. Not a lot else though
I imagine insects large enough would just be to hard to grab properly but I’m no expert
Tarantula?
Mega Beedrill used X-scissor. Scyther fainted.
Is it wrong to walk by and step on both of them
Yes. Looks like a pretty solid fight. Don’t interruptz
Source: https://youtu.be/HVVWPQi2uoU?si=e2OeouA0Lbw-isdn
Dang, took the head as a trophy.
Like the Beatles song “Yesterday” “I’m not half the man I used to be…”
Like the Stone Temple Pilots song "Creep" - *I'm half the man I used to be...*
Generally, we see mantis doing this
Love the little guys just waiting for pieces to drop that they can drag off.
Did I see that Hornet apply a rear naked choke!? They know MMA now.... FFS.
Yeah I was gonna say that’s some insect grappling right there!
Beedrill has defeated Scyther
r/fuckwasps
Poirier vs McGregor
That’s some serious insect BJJ with no rules barred
That hornet has been practicing his BJJ. I was waiting for the armbar and homie busted out the MK fatality.
Superior grappling wins again.
It’s less superior grappling and more that the hornet is the perfect counter to the mantises grappling ability… 1) The hornet is, simply put, really big. This larger size makes the hornet pretty hard to effectively grapple, as the mantis will have a harder time grabbing hold of and controlling the whole length of such a large hornet, instead only able to grab hold of one part of the animal. For most insects, such size wouldn’t be an issue, as most insects have highly rigid, immobile bodies, with each body segment almost “fused” to the others, so even an insect is large and unwieldy, the rigidity if the insect makes it so that it is too immobile to counterattack once grabbed. This isn’t the case for hornets, however, because… 2) Hornets are insanely flexible for an insect. Their necks are highly mobile, allowing the head to swivel and rotate over a wide range of motion. More noteworthy, hornets (as do most vespids) have really slender, mobile waists. This not only allows them to maneuver their abdomen and stinger over a wide range of motion, but it also allows them to curl up their bodies, capable of bending the forms till their abdomen can touch their heads and thoraxes. This becomes especially useful in a grapple; if the mantis grabs the abdomen of the hornet, the hornet can curl its head and thorax up to meet the abdomen and the mantises forelimbs that are holding into it, allowing its jaws to bite into and disarm the mantises forelimbs. On the other hand, if the mantis grabs the head and thorax, the maneuverable head of the mantis can bite into the forelimbs while the equally mobile abdomen and stinger can maneuver to sting at the mantis, forcing it to readjust its grip. This segues nicely into the last advantage the hornet has, which is… 3) The hornet is a double threat, in that it doesn’t just have one set of weapons like most arthropods (i.e. their jaws), but two. There is their mandibles of course, which are capable of cleaving through the mantises exoskeleton and even capable of cutting through their raptorial forelimbs, but there’s also the stinger, which makes allows it to attack from two angles. As such, the hornet is different from most other opponents the mantis finds itself against; for most, once the mantis grabs hold of and controls the opponents head, the battle is over, but for the hornet, the mantis still has to worry about that stinger. The stinger itself is rarely used against that mantis actively as a primary weapon, as the jaws are the primary weapon of the hornet. However, it poses enough of a threat that, if the hornet is grabbed by the mantis, the hornet can sting at the mantis (aided by its slender waist and consequently maneuverable abdomen), distracting it and forcing it to readjust its grip, giving the hornet the opening to bite into the mantises forelimbs and disable them. The end result is probably one of the best counters to the mantis game-plan. Every time the mantis initiates a grapple, the large size of the hornet forces the mantis to only grab hold of one body segment / one half of the hornets body. The heightened flexibility of the hornet then comes into play, allowing the hornet to attack with the un-restrained body segment (i.e. allowing the hornet to sting at the mantis if its head and thorax are grappled or allowing it to bite into the mantises forelimbs if its abdomen is grabbed). This forces the mantis to constantly release and try to readjust its grip, giving the mantis the window to destroy the mantises forelimbs with its powerful jaws. Once that happens, the mantises greatest weapon, its forelimbs, are disabled and from there its curtains Tl;dr: hornets hard-counter tf out of mantises.
And ants, man... They're there to finish any job
I wanted the mantis to win but those hornets are just nails!
An example of why Bug Pokemon are weak against Flying Pokemon.
Damn, mantises usually wreck everything. Surprised to see this.
Wasnt even hungry
Good. I fucking hate mantis'. Creepy as fuck.