Attraction

• Dave Parker: wikimedia.org
  
  Mantid species begin their courting in late summer. The female mantid sends out a pheromone that attracts males. In some species, the male will approach the female mantid carefully and the insects go through a series of steps before the female assumes a pose that indicates she is ready for mating. In other instances, the male mantid will leap onto the female's back. If he misses in his jump, he may be eaten by his would-be-lover before getting the opportunity to reproduce.
  
  

Mating

• Luc Viatour: wikimedia.org
  
  Mantid females don't always chomp off the head of their male partners during or after mating. Entomologists are finding that mantids are much more likely to cannibalize their partner in captivity than in the wild and that even in captivity,` the female mantis kills her partner less than a quarter of the time.
  
  While the mantids' mating may last for several hours, once it's over the male does quickly fly away.
  
  

Death

• Adrian Pingstone: wikimedia.org
  
  While the male is lucky if he survives his role in reproduction, the female mantid will not. She will lay her eggs and then she will die within a couple weeks. The life cycle of all mantids is less than a year.
  
  Mantids lay their eggs in clusters that are attached to trees or other objects with a gummy substance. The eggs will remain there, each protected within an individual cell in the cluster, until two to three weeks after spring arrives.
  
  

Hatching

• Vijay Cavale: Wikimedia.org
  
  Depending upon species, all the eggs within the cluster may hatch at once or they may gradually hatch with nymphs emerging for several weeks. The nymph that emerges looks like a tiny adult mantid, except it has no wings. The nymphs descend from the cluster on a silk strand.
  
  

Hemitabolous

• Messor structor: wikimedia.org
  
  Nymphs will go through hemimetabolous, meaning a partial metamorphosis, on their journey to adulthood. They will molt six to seven times, shedding their old skin so that a newer and larger one can replace it. The nymph will attach its old skin to a stick or other object using a gummy substance. The nymph will then chew an opening in the old exoskeleton and climbs out of the skin. By the end of summer, the nymph will reach adulthood and be ready to mate.