Hierodula majuscula
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
Hierodula majuscula is a species of praying mantis in the genus Hierodula. It is also known as the giant rainforest mantis and the Australian giant mantis. It is found in coastal northern Australia, usually in rainforest and adjacent habitats. This species is typically green, although a less common bright yellow form does occur.
It is predominantly a predator of insects including phasmids, grasshoppers, crickets, flies and other mantids. It also feeds on other invertebrate predators such as spiders and occasionally small vertebrates like geckos, frogs, and juvenile snakes.
Size is 7–11 cm (2.8–4.3 in) in total length from eye to wing. It is one of the largest mantis species in the world. The specific epithet "majuscula" means large in Latin. The species was originally described as Parhierodula majuscula from Northern Queensland near Cairns in 1923 by Norman Tindale. In 1935, the genus Parhierodula was synonymized with Hierodula by Max Beier.
List of mantis genera and species Rainforest Mantid (Hierodula majuscula) on museumvictoria.com.au Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Giant Rainforest Mantis sighting in Daintree National Park on a given day, based on 201 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 856 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and November
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Giant Rainforest Mantis in Daintree National Park on a given day, against about 40% in June–October and December–April, the lowest months. Those are among Daintree National Park's driest months, with about 85 mm of rain a month against 380 mm in January.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Giant Rainforest Mantis sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Daintree National Park, in our data
Daintree National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Giant Rainforest Mantis sightings: about 40% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same order: Mantodea
The closest relatives of the Giant Rainforest Mantis that you can see in Daintree National Park (order Mantodea, Mantises) are Rentz's Treerunner Mantis (about 20%), Netwinged Mantis (about 10%) and Northern Snake Mantis (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Giant Rainforest Mantis is recorded against all the insects logged in Daintree National Park (201 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
