Subject: The Mantis on my Woody Plant is growing
Geographic location of bug: Mount Washington, Los Angeles, California
Date: 7/10/2018
Time: 6:46 AM
Your letter to the bugman: Dear Bugman,
I thought you might be interested in a follow-up on the Mantis on my woody plant I wrote about three weeks ago. Last week I saw a shed exoskeleton (sorry no photo) and after disappearing for the day I made that discovery, the Mantis returned and has been back living on my Sweet Sarah clone ever since. The Mantis has gotten bigger. A Green Lynx Spider shared the plant for about a week, but today the Mantis is where the Green Lynx used to be and the Green Lynx is gone. I have not seen this Mantis eat. Both the Mantis and my plants survived the heat wave last weekend.
How you want your letter signed: Constant Gardener
Dear Constant Gardener,
Thanks for the update on the immature California Mantis you found on your Woody Plant. We suspect it is the product of the female California Mantis you documented last year.
Update: July 11, 2018
After noticing a Facebook posting by Jason RE who wrote: “‘woody plant’ silly rabbit that is marijuana, not seeing any buds” we decided we needed to crop the image so the well camouflaged mantis is more noticeable.