• Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

• Arthropods Phylum Arthropoda

• Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

• Insects (Class Insecta)

• Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

• Mantises (Order Mantodea)

• Suborder Eumantodea

• Infraorder Schizomantodea

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Infraorder Schizomantodea is a major evolutionary lineage of praying mantises within the order Mantodea, encompassing the vast majority of living mantis species. Members of this infraorder are distributed worldwide, with their greatest diversity occurring in tropical and subtropical forests of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Schizomantodeans exhibit an extraordinary variety of body forms and camouflage, ranging from bark- and twig-mimicking species to leaf and flower mantises that closely resemble surrounding vegetation. Like all mantises, they possess elongated bodies, highly mobile triangular heads with large compound eyes, and powerful raptorial forelegs equipped with sharp spines for seizing prey.