Last night we had dinner with some Portuguese friends and my son went outside into the terrace of our rental villa. He found there was a visitor on the wall.
I have never seen a praying mantis before but from descriptions I am sure this is what we saw. It was a good 10 cm long and had powerful forelegs.
As a child I liked Gerald Durrel's books on his childhood in Corfu ('My family and other animals' & 'Birds, beasts and relatives'). I recall him describing a deadly encounter between a praying mantis and a gecko in his bedroom. I recall him saying that the forelegs were used as deadly weapons that would draw blood...though I recall that the bloodied gecko finally won.
