From New York Post:
Praying may save us from murder hornets after all.
Wild video posted online shows a giant Asian hornet finally meeting its match: a brain-gobbling praying mantis.
The clip starts with the mantis completely still as its five eyes patiently watch the hornet — an insect that can grow to 2 inches long, is known to kill up to 50 people a year in Japan, and recently arrived in the US.
The mantis suddenly springs forward with its long, modified front legs, keeping a vise-like grip on the doomed hornet, which twists and tries to turn its head in feeble attempts to put up a fight.
The long-legged carnivore then starts pecking away at the hornet — eventually eating its head and brains.
“Thank you for this nightmare,” remarked one Twitter user of the video posted online, which had been viewed almost 160,000 times by Thursday morning.
The so-called murder hornets have struck terror after it emerged last week that they have reached the US, after sightings in Washington state.
Clips proving how devastating their sting is, as well as how easily they can kill larger animals like mice, only added to the nightmares.
But for many animals, praying mantises — of which there are over 1,000 species — are a major threat, too, with them devouring moths, crickets and grasshoppers as well as frogs, lizards, snakes and even birds.
They also chomp on their own kind, with adult females eating their mate just after — or even during — mating, National Geographic says.
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