Mantis (species)

Mantises were a kind of insect. There were many kinds of mantises, some of which were said to "look like pieces of jewelry. (PROSE: The Gallifrey Chronicles) Groups of mantises sometimes "laid upon" harmless birds. (PROSE: The Dark Path)

History
One "sharply-dressed" mantis was one of the guests at the First Auction in Heaven and bid "eeeeeeooocriq delleg trill milrib" on the Frozen Battle of Cratosi Fields, unsuccessfully. (PROSE: Going Once, Going Twice)

The Tenth Doctor encountered a huge, sapient Mantis whose skin resembled rawhide while in the Dark Times. The Mantis had been enslaved by the Kotturuh. (PROSE: The Knight, The Fool and The Dead)

An imaginary, glowing preying mantis, larger than a human being, was brought into being by the peculiarities of the Crooked World and encountered by the Eighth Doctor's companion Anji Kapoor. (PROSE: The Crooked World)

Creatures compared to mantises
Several people noted the human Colonel Herbert Elgar's resemblance to "a blood-drenched preying mantis". (PROSE: The Turing Test)

The Shadow Architect's poise was once described as "preying-mantis-like". (PROSE: The Paradox Moon)

The Shadow-Mantis encountered by Chris Cwej was so named because it had a vaguely mantis-like appearance. (PROSE: The Mushroom at the End of the Universe)

Huge alien creatures resembling praying mantises were encountered by the Eighth Doctor and Sam Jones, who subsequently thought of them as "the Mantises". (PROSE: Dominion)