Dude, what do you think those two long dangling things sticking from the top of their heads are?
No, Mantidlord, he didn't say "smell they're food" (or even "smell their food"), but, "You'll notice the mantid 'smell' the prey first," where the quotation marks indicate "give the appearance of smelling," a fanciful, perhaps, reference to the saccadic head movements which predominate before a strike. I may be misunderstanding you, but you appear to say that the mantis nibbles on its prey before it strikes. Surely the process is the other way around, strike first and then nibble the captured prey?
They're called antennae and I know what they're used for. You said "smell their food" so I had NO idea what the heck you were talking about. But for the record they don't always do this. I've had mantids strike at prey without budging they're antennae and I've even had mantids with no antennae feast on food, granted they were more unsuccessful than others. And when you say smelling, it gave the wrong impression.
I should give you more credit, MantidLord. I apologise. I, like you, am basing my statements on experience &, as far as I can see, Australian mantids wave their antennae before their food before they strike. Although, your comment about antennae-less mantid have more difficulty seizing their prey would seem that they may actually play some part in prey detection.
No prob James, I should give you more credit as well. I'm basing them off of the works performed and defined in "The Praying Mantids" which is a detailed book authored by many entomologists and scientists. I'm sure you've heard of it. Though I have seen mantids touch prey right before striking, I never knew if it were necessary or not. I guess it would be interesting to find out what role exactly it plays in food recognition/ aquisition.
