Yes, the preying mantis seems to be a wrong identification (possibly based on the weird head of some of these hilts).
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One question is - why would the beetle have a horse head?
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Could it be just a corruption? Those hilts with the horse-like heads seem to be those with less (or hardly any) beetle-like features.
A wood worker in rural Bali will have been acquainted with the actual beetle as well as the pupae. Those hilts shown by Nieuwenkamp (drawn in 1907) are amazingly accurate... However, the stylized head is already evident in the left example. (
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/attach...chmentid=26914)
Maybe this was done to symbolize more than a "mere" animal? Similar to other mythological creatures looking like a human/animal mix (e.g. Hanuman)?
Regards,
Kai