Ameles spallanzania Insect European Praying Mantis Dyctioptera Mantodea

Ameles spallanzania m 6-6.2 Insect European Praying Mantis Dyctioptera Mantodea.
Family: Mantidae (mantids or mantises).
Common name: European Dwarf Mantis.
Syn. Mantis spallanzania.

N.B. since, among the thousands of insects we have, only for the mantises you ask us if they are alive (and often you order them by mistake without even asking us), since probably (we see no other explanation) it is fashionable to breed live mantises, we would like to point out that these, like all the arthropods we deal with, whether they are beetles, spiders, scorpions or butterflies, are DRIED AND DEAD COLLECTIBLES, TO BE POSED BY THE CUSTOMER.
WE DO NOT HAVE LIVE INSECTS, WE ARE NOT A PET SHOP, as you can understand by taking a closer look at our site of scientific articles for collectors.
Or, strictly speaking, then the shells, sharks, stuffed birds would also be alive...

Ameles spallanzania (Rossi, 1792) is a mantis widespread in Europe and North Africa. In Italy it is present throughout the peninsula and on the major islands.
The name of the species is a tribute from its describer, the Italian entomologist Pietro Rossi, to his friend the naturalist Lazzaro Spallanzani.
It is a small mantis (1-3 cm) whose color ranges from green to brown to gray. The species has a marked sexual dimorphism: the male has two pairs of wings that allow it to fly for short distances while in the female the wings are reduced to vestiges. The pronotum is short and square (a feature that allows it to be differentiated from the congener Ameles decolor which has an elongated and thin pronotum). The raptorial legs (first pair) are short and robust while the hind legs (third pair), particularly large and developed. The abdomen of the female is enlarged laterally, wider than that of the male, and is folded upwards.
It is a rather shy mantis, if it feels a draft or if it is picked up it vibrates pretending to be a branch, if annoyed it tends to escape using the third pair of legs to jump away, if further annoyed it can strike with its raptorial legs, this technique is used when it is annoyed by animals of its own size or in any case of slightly larger dimensions and is rarely put into practice for larger aggressors (such as a hand). As a last defense it lets itself fall pretending to be dead. [
It is a voracious predator that feeds on small insects and can sometimes attack its own kind. Unlike the more common Mantis religiosa, females of this species do not cannibalize the male after mating. It prefers arid areas with little vegetation.