Western Water Penny vs Bearded Stick Mantis

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Western Water Penny Bearded Stick Mantis
Scientific Name Psephenus falli Toxodera beieri
Order Coleoptera Mantodea
Family Psephenidae Toxoderidae
Size 4-5 mm (adults) 70-100 mm
Habitat Mountains Forests
Diet Omnivores Omnivores
Regions Western North America Borneo, Malaysia
Conservation Least Concern Data Deficient

Western Water Penny

A water penny beetle restricted to clean mountain streams in western North America. Its disc-shaped larvae are indicators of high water quality.

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Did You Know?

The presence of water penny larvae is used by biologists as a reliable indicator that a stream is unpolluted.

Bearded Stick Mantis

A rare stick mantis from Borneo with small lobes along its body resembling bark fragments. It was named after the famous mantis taxonomist Max Beier.

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Did You Know?

Max Beier, whom it was named after, described more mantis species than any other 20th-century entomologist.