They were frequent in Zaire/Congo, the green, large ones. I thought they looked cool, even kept one of them as a pet (try keeping two as pets and you VERY SOON end up with just one ...
). There was nothing it would not eat as long as it moved and could be overpowered.
Always felt that praying mantises were a partial inspiration to the Alien monster. They don't change color, just different species.
Pretty much like spiders, they're mainly insect killers (give or take the odd hummingbird, ok ...) and don't do any harm to people at all. It drives me nuts when Edith with her arachnophobia kills all the spiders in our apartment (this time of year they become frequent looking for a warm place), I always go
"Leave it, it's a Nützling***!" And she goes
(imagine slapping noise):
"Not anymore, it ain't! It's either spiders or me here." ***beneficial insect