Ocean Strider vs Filigreed Stick Mantis

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Ocean Strider Filigreed Stick Mantis
Scientific Name Halobates micans Toxodera fimbriata
Order Hemiptera Mantodea
Family Gerridae Toxoderidae
Size 4-5 mm 75-100 mm
Habitat Beaches & Coastal Forests
Diet Omnivores Omnivores
Regions Tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans Indonesia, Malaysia
Conservation Least Concern Data Deficient

Ocean Strider

A remarkable open-ocean water strider that spends its entire life on the surface of tropical seas. It is one of the very few insects adapted to a fully marine existence. It lays eggs on floating debris including feathers and seaweed.

💡

Did You Know?

It is one of the only insects to have colonized the open ocean and can be found thousands of kilometers from the nearest land, surviving storms and wave action.

Filigreed Stick Mantis

A stick mantis from Southeast Asia with fringed edges along its thorax and legs. The fringes break up its body outline among dead twigs and branches.

💡

Did You Know?

Its fringed body margins are more elaborate than any other species in the genus.