From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpraying mantisˌpraying ˈmantis (also mantis) noun [countable] 
HBIa large insect that eats other insects
HBIa large insect that eats other insectsExamples from the Corpus
praying mantis• Manipulators, fed by red veins of hydraulic fluid, fold elbows-up beside her cheeks like legs of a praying mantis.• I watched with interest - it was like observing the gyrations of an alien species, a praying mantis or something.• He was very tall, perhaps six foot five, all elbow and forearm, like an enormous ginger praying mantis.• For more and more she is coming to resemble a mechanical praying mantis, frozen there in the glass, he wrote.• We learned the swift, circular dance of the praying mantis. 