Praying Mantis
Thu, May 28, 2009 at 8:24 PM
Spotted this fella on my dining room window one September afternoon in Oklahoma City. Thought I would share some of the amazing pics with the site.
AHayes
Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Preying Mantis
Dear AHayes,
Thanks for sending your truly amazingly surreal image of a Preying Mantis to our website. Selecting an unusual angle for a photograph often makes an ordinary subject appear extraordinary. Though we in no way consider Preying Mantids to be ordinary, the odd perspective does give your photo added interest and it makes the Mantis appear positively menacing.
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Posted 29 May 2009
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what is that bug
Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 5:56 AM
we just moved into a new home country home which is something i had promised the girls as my 5 year plan and the children love it. as the snow melted they have been discovering nature and ran accross some of these. this cocoon is about as big around as a quarter. and there is one on every bush and tree. the highest i have seen them is about five foot off the ground. teach this city girl and her children something about nature. what is this bug. i hope my picture is good enough.
maria ross
ohio
Preying Mantis Oothica
Congratulations on your move Maria,
Though we love our Los Angeles home, having a country home in Ohio, the state of our roots, would be a dream. This is a Preying Mantis Oothica. Come warm weather, about 200 baby Preying Mantids will emerge. Judging by the number of Oothica you describe, you should have a healthy adult population in the Fall. Young Mantids are often difficult to spot in the yard and garden, but flying adults with their large size are usually quite visible.
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Posted 11 April 2009
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Yellow mantid
Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 11:58 AM
I found this in mesic pine flatwoods in Lee County Florida, near Fort Myers, among grasses and saw palmetto, in October.
Keith
Ft. Myers, Florida
Carolina Mantis??
Hi Keith,
We believe that this is a Carolina Mantis, Stagmomantis carolina. There is a photo on BugGuide that is very similar. It is a native species. We will try to get a confirmation on the ID.
Carolina Mantis??
Update: Sunday, February 21, 2009
Daniel:
The mantid just about ‘has’ to be a species of Stagmomantis, though I don’t know if it is the Carolina mantid. My references don’t show any similar genus from there.
Eric
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Posted 21 February 2009
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baby mantids!
Fri, Feb 20, 2009 at 6:40 AM
Hello, bugman! My baby mantids are finally large enough to take a decent photo of. My grandmother brought this egg case back from Maryland to Florida while on vacation and it hatched. Is it safe to release these babies into the woods here in Florida, or would they be invasive? I think my husband is tired of me keeping them in a box on the kitchen table. Thanks!
Kelly
Panama City, Florida via Easton, Maryland
Mantid Hatchlings
Hi Kelly,
It usually isn’t a very good idea to transport insects from one location to another. With that said, many of the Mantis species in the eastern U.S. are already non-native, like the Chinese Mantis, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis and the European Mantis, Mantis religiosa. Those two species are also frequently sold as oothica, the foamy egg sac, so that home gardeners can use natural methods to control harmful insects instead of using pesticides. Interestingly, Mantids are not particular about the insects they eat, and they frequently feed on pollinating insects like bees and butterflies. We doubt that your baby Mantids would be happy in the woods. The garden or a meadow would be more to their liking.
Mantid Hatchlings
Insect
Sunday, Feb 8, 2009 at 3:48 PM
I found this insect between branches and grass. It was moving very slow and just like a spider it was able to walk on wall and similar vertical places. I would like to know what type of insect it is, because I have never seen anything like this.
Monika
Skopje, Macednia
Mantis from Macedonia
Hi Monika,
Your insect is some species of Mantis. First we needed to do a web search on your location, and now know that Skopje is in Macedonia. We thought your insect resembled an immature Wandering Violin Mantis, Gongylus gongylodes, but the information we have been able to locate indicates that species ranges in India and Sri Lanka, but that it is a popular pet species. We have not had any luck identifying a native Macedonian Mantis that resembles your specimen, and we have concluded that there are two possibilities regarding your species’ identification. Either it is native to Macedonia and possibly a close relative of Gongylus gongylodes, or it is an accidentally escaped or released pet specimen. Hopefully, one of our readers may be able to provide a more concrete identification.
Mantis from Macedonia
Update: from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
Have no idea on the mantid. They just aren’t my “thing….” I know there is at least one “mantis forum” bulletin board out there, so you might try them.
Eric
Update: Monday, February 6, 2009
Hi Daniel:
I believe this is Empusa fasciata. If go to the CamelPhoto.com forum there several wonderful pictures of a sub-adult photographed in Thessaloniki, Macedonia that looks like an exact match. Regards.
Karl
Thanks KArl,
The TrekNature Website calls this the Cone Head Mantis.
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Posted 09 February 2009
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Mantis
Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Greetings, this perfect little creature was encountered in Southeast Az in September.
Crowfriend
Chiricahua Mountains
Mexican Unicorn Mantis
Dear Crowfriend,
This positively delightful mantis is a Mexican Unicorn Mantis, Phyllovates chlorophaea. According to BugGuide, it is a rare native species. BugGuide reports sightings from Arizona and Texas. BugGuide also indicates: “This species is becoming popular among captive breeding enthusiasts, not only for its distinctive appearance and large size, but also because its preference for smaller prey means that cannibalism is much rarer than in most other mantid species. Captives have been reported using a defensive posture in which they raise the forelimbs, spread the wings, and expose the brightly marked abdomen.” This represents a new species for our site, which always excites us. We are also quite impressed with the quality of your photograph, the details of the specimen that are visible, and the wonderful facial expression you have captured.
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Posted 31 December 2008
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Dead-Leaf Mantis
Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 5:49 PM
This insect was found in Panama, deep in the jungle near the border of Colombia. We think it may be some kind of dead-leaf mantis. Can anyone help us out? Thanks!
Curious
Panama
Unknown Mantis from Panama
Dear Curious,
While we cannot take the time right now to properly identify your mantis because we have to rush out to give a final examination, we hope one of our faithful readers can assist in the identification of this well camouflaged specimen. Hopefully, when the semester ends, we will be able to devote a bit more time to the identification process.
Update: Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 2:33 PM
Hi Daniel:
This looks like Acanthops falcata. It is primarily a South American Species, but does occur in Panama (officially) and apparently as far north as Honduras. Common names appear to be (South American) Dead Leaf Mantis and Boxer Mantis, but both of these names are also used for other mantis species in other places. Both sexes have wings but the females are flightless. The photo by ‘Curious’ is probably a male. Regards.
Karl
Links: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/Honduras/Orthoptera/Acanthops.htm
http://godofinsects.com/museum/display.php?sid=1631
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Posted 19 December 2008
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Unusual mantis
Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 5:11 AM
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 6:43 PM
Hi,
I’d sent this mail with the attached pics on the 8th. I do realize that you must be getting swamped with mails reg. bugs, but would you pl. be kind enough to respond to this request for an id on the mantis ???
Thanks.
Santosh Mani
Hello WTB,
‘m Santosh Mani an organic farmer in the state of Tamilnadu in India. Yesterday (7/9/08) my wife found this rather strange looking wingless praying mantis on one of her potted plants. I have never seen this type of mantis before, so I checked it out on Google & WTB was the only site that had something similar looking & that was a Brazilian Mantis. Since this was seen in a southern part of Tamilnadu & I couldn’t find anything else similar looking on other sites, could you by any chance give me an id for it??? Unfortunately if it is placed on a plant it practically disappears into the background, hence I had to let it run on my shirt to be able to get an identifiable picture. I do hope the pics are good enough for you to id the mantis.
Rgds
Santosh Mani
Wandering Violin Mantis
Hi Santosh,
Thank you for your persistence in writing to us. We believe this is a Wandering Violin Mantis nymph, Gongylus gongylodes, sometimes called an Indian Rose Mantis. We received two amazing photos of an adult in December 2007 and we believe your photo is of an immature specimen.
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Posted 07 November 2008
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Mantis eating Leaf Creature
Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 6:21 PM
Hello Bugman. I thought your great web site might like to see this shot I took of a Mantis snacking on some kind of leaf look-a-like insect. I almost passed right by them.
This is in a “Lum Yai” fruit tree in Northern Thailand.
Love your site!
Dan
Northern Thailand in foothills.
Mantis eats Leaf Insect
Hi Dan,
Thanks for sending us your wonderful Food Chain images. Since our site migration a few months back, our readership is now able to click on the smaller image to enlarge and your photos really demand this closer inspection. We believe your leaf creature is a Phasmid known as Phyllium siccifolium. Bugsincyberspace.com has some nice images of living individuals.
Mantis eats Leaf Insect
praying mantis eating a wheel bug, unknown eggs
Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 9:12 PM
HELLO BUGMAN!
Just wanted to share this week’s playground “show” of a praying mantis DEVOURING a wheel bug. The class watched in horror/amazement. We had just seen our first wheel bug of this school year the day before.
We are also including a hatching photo we took this August. The eggs were stuck to the brick wall outside our classroom and we watched daily to see what was going to happen. We’d loved to know what was coming out! Thank you so much for your help!
Always looking for bugs,
Fours and fives in PA
Southeastern PA
Preying Mantis eats Wheel Bug
Dear Teacher of Fours and Fives in PA,
We are gladdened to see that you have taken your classwork home and that your students will be able to find their answers online next week. Our only request is that in the future, you please don’t include multiple postings in one letter as it jumbles our already voluminous archives. Your Mantis photo is awesome in that it shows the Mantis devouring another beneficial predator. If the statistics were available, they might reveal that, since it pretty much sits higher up on the food chain, the Mantis may eat more beneficial insects than problematic ones. Since Mantids are often found on flowering plants, they consume their share of pollinators.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008, at 02:16 PM
A praying mantis has moved in and is calling my porch home. I met her on
the screen door in the morning. She was a beautiful dark green and tan.
She was back on the screen door when I came home after 9pm that evening.
She was light green color this time.
Since I haven’t seen a praying mantis around here I looked her up on the web
to find out why she had taken up residence near my porch light. Ah ha! She
was slowly climbing the screen door to get the the moths flying around the
light.
I just saw her again this afternoon. She’s just hanging on the porch light,
upside down, waiting…waiting. Oh, and her color is brown now.
h
funny, her mate moved onto my porch light last night. The photo is on www.whatsthatbug.com right now. He is still here tonight, catching moths at the porch light. Wish you would send a photo.
D.
I’ll shoot her in the morning when I can see her without the porch light
blinding the shot. But I wish I had a better camera to catch her catching
her catch. It’s quite creepy the way she pivots her head whenever I walk
out the door.
Yes. Great photo. Same species. I’ll photograph mine in the morning.
Amazing how their heads can turn 180 degrees. It’s shape and movement
reminds me of the aliens in War of the Worlds. Mine is a picky eater. The
moths are actually bumping into her but she’s waiting for the juiciest one
to drop on her.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Sorry this comes too late for the morning edition. Also sorry for the lack
of control over the exposure. …if I had more time…!
Notice the boring beige camouflage of our little gal. I guess she was just
adding the appropriate color to blend with the existing brown and black.
Female California Mantis
Thanks Helene,
It appears you really do have a female. Perhaps we can set our respective guests up with a blind dinner date.
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Posted 09 October 2008
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October 8, 2008
We awoke early this morning to take out the garbage and noticed the numerous Painted Arachnis Moths on the screen door. The Santa Ana winds are blowing and moths get quite plentiful when that happens. Something flew from the door as we opened it and our first thought was that it was an Angular Winged Katydid. Imagine our shocked surprise to find this wonderful California Mantis, Stagmomantis californica, perched on the porch light. In the 13 1/2 years we have lived in Mt Washington, this is a first for our yard. We have seen occasional Mantids in the vicinity, and at work, but never in the yard. According to Charles Hogue in his book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin: “The species prefers an arboreal habitat and is primarily found on shrubs of the Coastal Sage plant community. Males are often attracted to lights.” We rushed to get the camera to document this garden first for us.
California Mantis
Daniel:
Yes, you have there a male mantis of the genus Stagmomantis. Males are much smaller than females. You probably were remembering the big Chinese mantids or European mantids from back in Ohio; both are introduced (non-native) species.
Eric Eaton
Update: October 9, 2008
Eric reminded us that we never mentioned that our little male California Mantis is only about two inches long. He was still on the porch light when we returned from work after sunset last evening, and he remains in place this morning. Curiously, our good friend Helene who lives in nearby Glassell Park emailed us about the mantis that appeared on her porch the same day ours appeared. She promises to send a photo today.
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Posted 08 October 2008
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Bugtopia
Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 3:08 PM
The mums are in full bloom in northern Virginia, right near the Blue Ridge Mountains. A mantis has set up home and enjoying the buffet. Not really much that needs identified, but I appreciated to be on the bugs level. Roll Call: Mantis, Ermine Moth, Conifer Seed Bug. Can you tell what the mantis is eating for my records?
Don
Purcellville, VA
Preying Mantis eats Bug of the Month
Hi Don,
It sure looks to us like your Preying Mantis is eating our Bug of the Month, the Pennsylvania Leatherwing or Goldenrod Soldier Beetle.
Mantis vs Monarch
Hey Bugman,
I love this site! You have helped me identify the bagworns and army worms that have invaded my country yard this year, but today we had a nice treat in the garden. My children spotted this struggling monarch and thought he was just injured. Upon closer inspection we discovered that he was trapped by a well disguised mantis! While we don’t like to lose a monarch, it was fascinating to see nature in action!
Keeping it Country
Fairview, Texas (north of Dallas)
Preying Mantis eats Monarch Butterfly
Dear Keeping,
Thanks so much for sending us your fascinating Food Chain image. Mantids often wait in blossoms for unsuspecting pollinators like wasps, bees and butterlies. Your mantis appears to be immature as the wings don’t look fully developed.
Black Spiny Mantis from Australia
Hi guys,
As I mentioned I have been finding lots of new and unusual bugs at my new property. This is the mantis that I found. I had Dave Britton, the entomology collections manager from the Australian Museum, have a look at it and he says it is most probably in the genus Paraoxypilus (Family Amorphoscelidae). It is only about an inch long and very quick.
The site seems to be loading quite quickly now and the new layout makes it heaps easier, thanks for the great effort you guys put in.
aussietrev
Burnett Region, Queensland. Australia
Australian Preying Mantis
Hi Trev,
Thanks for sending in another new species for our site, and thanks so much for saving us the time it takes to identify new species. We are thrilled to hear the site is working better for you and we will pass the information on to our web host who spent many long hours trying to make us more efficient.
sexual dimorphism, Mantid sexual congresS?
daniel & lisa,
find attached .jpeg for your review. the male was somewhat larger than the female. and
attacked the camera last week. i can resend video if interested. took these two along time to finish they’re business. great sight. thanks,
thomas
west michigan
Mating Preying Mantids
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for sending us your photo of mating Preying Mantids. It is actually the female that is the larger of the two. Thanks for your offer of video, but at the moment, we are not introducing this option to our website.
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Posted 22 September 2008
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Tagged: bug love
Black and tan Praying Mantis from southwest Texas
Until yesterday, I didn’t even know the Praying Mantis had any other color than green. We were on a hilltop 15 miles north of Brackettville, Tx which is in the southwest part of the state and I saw this little guy. His colors made me think of desert camo. Then I find your site and see all the many many varieties of Praying Mantis and I’m amazed! I didn’t see my guy on your site, although the Carolina Mantid on your page was similar in coloring. What’s that bug?
Genie Robinson
Brackettville, TX
Hi Genie,
Based on BugGuide, we believe this is a female Carolina Mantis, Stagmomantis carolina. We don’t believe your specimen is fully mature due to the small size of her wings. The female Carolina Mantis does not have fully developed, functional wings, but mature specimens have more noticeable wings than are represented in your photograph.
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Posted 28 August 2008
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stick mantis?
I found this 3” mantis-like on my 2 nd story front porch in St. Helena Island, SC (on the SE corner of SC). It’s head is so indistinguishable I can’t tell if the head is the part sticking down or up. It is light brown in color. Very camera shy… I had to coax it back on top of the railing for these pics. Sorry about the photo quality… all I had at the ready was a camera phone. Many thanks for your assistance!
Brendagael Beasley~Forrest
Hi Brendagael,
This is a Grasslike Mantis, Thesprotia graminis, the only member of its genus in North America. BugGuide has submissions from Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
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Posted 23 August 2008
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Smiling Mantis
Daniel,
I found this Praying Mantis peepin in my bedroom window in Dayton, Ohio. He looks as if he is smiling. lol. I thought maybe you would like to add this photo to your archive of smiling Mantidae. I thought it was a good close-up. Thanks again for your wonderful site.
Terry in Dayton, Ohio
Hi Terry,
Your “Peeping Tom” Preying Mantis photo is pretty funny. We can’t help but wonder: “whatever were you doing to capture that mantid’s attention?”
Daniel,
Beleive it or not, I was looking at some photo’s on your website when something caught the corner of my eye and there he was on the window. He may have been looking at some of his relatives on my monitor. I immediately grabbed my camera. It was as if he was posing for me. Its unknown if he can read but he sure does like looking at pictures. I think the monitor captured his attention. (Or maybe he was looking at his reflection in the glass. More plausible). In any case it was great to see such a beautiful creature so close up. I didn’t know they could climb straight up on glass. Pretty cool. Thanks for your response.
Terry
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Posted 18 August 2008
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Mantoida maya (new to your site)
I took this photo in the Wekeiva forest in Seminole county, FL, while out taking pictures of bugs, imagine that! I was going to ask you guys to identify this for me but I found it on BugGuide.com. I had never seen a mantid with such a short "neck" before! I thought I was going to get to name this one, but, alas, it is not new to science just new to me. Tiny for a winged mantid, he was about 1". His bobble eyes are funny, but what I love most about this little guy is the beautiful color and texture of his dark coppery wings. I didn’t bother him and he skittered off, rather quickly for a mantid I might add. I hope you guys post this as I could not find any other photo of a Mantoida on your site. Oh yeah I alsmost forgot to say – I LOVE YOUR SITE! Rock on.
Silas
Hi Silas,
Thank you so much for contributing to our site with a new species, the Little Yucatan Mantid which is native to Mexico and Florida.
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Posted 17 July 2008
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