It appeared in New Zealand in 1978, and was found more recently in Portugal[1] and Los Angeles, USA,[2] likely spread through the exotic pet trade.

[3] [4] The ootheca (egg case) of M. caffra is 12–30 mm long with rounded sides, soft creamy-brown, fawn or beige with a terminal handle-like extension.

[5] The nymphs are green or brown, body often longitudinally striped, limbs mottled, tip of abdomen curved upwards.

Finally Dr A. Kaltenbach of the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna, identified the specimens as a common Southern African species, Miomantis caffra.

This displacement may be facilitated by the attraction of the native mantis males to females of M. caffra, which often results in their deaths due to sexual cannibalism.