Bug FAQArizona Unicorn Mantis
Pseudovates arizonae · Order: Mantodea · Family: Mantidae
The Arizona unicorn mantis is a small, brightly colored praying mantis found only in Arizona. It can be confused with the Texas unicorn mantis, but it has distinctive lobes on its legs and abdomen sides.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
It has lobes on its legs and on the sides of its abdomen, which help separate it from similar mantises.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
In the wild it is generally smaller than related mantises, though captive individuals can vary in size.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species is native to North America and occurs only in the state of Arizona.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It resembles the Texas unicorn mantis (Phyllovates chlorophaea) but can be told apart by its leg and abdomen lobes. Three other Pseudovates species live in Mexico, and a similar Phyllovates species is found in Texas.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 2 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Arizona, Texas.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell the Arizona unicorn mantis apart from the Texas unicorn mantis?
Look for lobes on the legs and the sides of the abdomen; the Arizona species has these features while the Texas species does not.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Mantidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudovates_arizonae
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-28 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-28.