The only species, Santanmantis axelrodi , is known from the Crato Formation of Brazil, dating to the late Aptian stage of the Early Cretaceous.

[4] Like other mantises, the forelegs are modified into spined raptorial appendages.

When describing a new specimen in 2017, Hörnig, Haug and Haug proposed that the second set of legs also had spines similar to the forelegs, and also served a raptorial function, but that they were not visible in the fossil due to being broken off.

[5] However a response to this paper criticised this assumption, finding that it had little evidence from the fossil itself or from living mantises.

[6] This Cretaceous insect-related article is a stub.