This entomological observation (female decapitation of the male after coitus), it turns out, was not unique to the mantis in the insect world, and it was also exaggerated, since the gruesome postcoital act is largely a function of captivity. But the associations between the insect, eroticism, and beheading nevertheless stuck. The anthropomorphic, or humanlike, form of the mantis also played a major role. The mantis just looks, well, human. Not to mention pious. Hence the “praying” projection part.
