what on earth is this?
Hello Bugman!
I found this while on holiday in Corfu, Greece. It was about 3 inches long! It was running about on the grass near the pool at our hotel. When I caught it and put it in this empty glass ashtray to study, it made vigorous attempts to climb out using its front ‘legs’. After photographing I released it below a hedge where I thought it might find some food – however, a small lizard shot out and grabbed it, carrying it off under a slab there. Later I saw the lizard, still with some of this creature sticking out of its mouth – a far larger prey than I would have thought a 7 inch lizard would take. Could it be a Mantid? Thanks for your help,
regards Philip.
Hi Philip,
We have a vague foggy memory of reading this letter several days ago but possibly not being able to open the images. Thanks for resending. This is a Mole Cricket. They burrow underground.