Grizzled Mantis

Gonatista grisea · Order: Mantodea · Family: Epaphroditidae

Also called: Florida Bark Mantid, Grizzled Mantid, Lichen Mantid

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Grizzled Mantis
Photo: Laura Gaudette, CC BY

The grizzled mantis (Gonatista grisea) is native to the southern United States, especially Florida. It perches head-down on tree trunks, waiting to overpower and eat any insect it can catch.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It will eat any insect it can overpower.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 7 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Grizzled Mantis photo 3
Photo: aispinsects, CC BY
Grizzled Mantis photo 4
Photo: Dr. Andrew G. Cannizzaro, CC BY
Grizzled Mantis photo 5
Photo: Nick Block, CC BY
Grizzled Mantis photo 6
Photo: Sandra H Statner, CC BY

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonatista_grisea

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.