OT: Praying Mantis Season! (with pics)

[Ash]

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but here in Iowa, praying mantises only come out for a month or two out of the entire year.
From late August to late September/early October these things come out and do their thing.

I've always been fascinated by these creatures.
They look really cool, are completely harmless and will gladly let you pick them up.
(well, most of them do...some quickly try to fly away)

The other night after I got off work, I parked my car in the parkade next to my apt. building and as I was walking to the door to my floor, I heard a loud buzzing noise.
I looked down and there was a mantis caught in a huge spider web going crazy to escape.
The buzzing was its wings flapping like mad.  
There was no spider in the web so I scooped it up, set it down on the cement and went inside to get my camera.
I cleaned as much of the web off it as I could.
It was covered in spider silk but sat quietly while I cleaned it all off.
I snapped these pics...



You can see some of the web that was stuck to its legs in the pic below:


As you can see, this specimen was decent sized, I'd guess him to be around 5 inches long


It's staring right at me.  I wonder what it was thinking...


Here's a close up of his head, that's spider web gunk on its antennea


This one was pretty docile, it let me hold it for quite awhile before taking flight:


I like how they move their heads.  They're some of the only insects in the world that can do that.
I held this one up at eye level and as I moved my head from right to left it would follow me with its head...always staring straight at me.
It was probably thankful that I rescued it from that web.

Most people I know are absolutely terrified of praying mantises but not me, I think they're cool!
Many of you probably see these things all the time but around here, it's a rare treat to see them out & about.

Click here for more info on them

How about you?
Do you see mantises around where you live?

[akiratubo]

They are beautiful, beautiful insects.  Thank you for rescuing it.

Of all the insects, they are also probably the least "alien" to us; they have two "arms", their head is on a "neck", etc.

They are underutilized as bad movie monsters!  Sure, sure, whenever there are insectoid aliens they look like praying mantises, but there are only a couple of giant mantis movies and absolutely no movies about mantises that are roughly human sized.

I'd LOVE to see a man-in-a-suit mantis monster movie along the lines of "Alien" or "Predator".

[Scottie]

Ash,

That last pic of the mantis flying away is great. It looks like a long bird in flight and there's your hand right there! Plus it looks like you're in a parking deck which is always cool. Glad you had your camera with you. That is one awesome moment.

[Ash]

Scottie Wrote:
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That last pic of the mantis flying away is great.
> It looks like a long bird in flight

Believe me when I say that the wingspan of the praying mantis is almost that of a small bird.
They can make a terrible flapping noise when they want to.

Check out these pics of a mantis that captured a hummingbird!

[Acidburn]

WOW!  I dont ever see them that big down here. The bigest one I have saw that I can remember has been like 3 inches. Absolutly wonderful pics Ash.

[Amanda]

I just love praying mantis.  They are just so damn cool looking. Not to mention the whole carniverous mating thing.  They used that in an episode of buffy....

Females tend to be a little bigger than the males, but they also don't usually fly.  

The only ones I've seen in Texas have been pretty small.  I think the biggest species gets to be about 6 inches or so, but I don't think they're native in America?

Sorry.  Nerd stuff.

[loyal1]

Wow those were some cool pics.  You were wondering what he was thinking?  Maybe that your head is too big to bite off?  Maybe thinking you were the weirdest looking tree he ever landed on? Or maybe just maybe you have this rare power to communicate with bugs on a telepathic level.  I will be sure not to kill them with windex anymore in fear you will have your allies hunt me down.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Those are some cool pics there Ash. I only see a few prey mantises from a distance, not that I 'm afraid to touch them or anything, just never tired before.

[odinn7]

When I was in Arizona this past June, I caught a Mantis on a table. It was a baby and couldn't have been bigger than about an inch. I picked it up and took it outside to the garden and tried to let it go out there. It wouldn't let go of my finger for minutes. Quite funny really.

Of course, I have a few other pics of some "bugs" from out there...anyone wanna see them? haha

[peter johnson]

Brilliant stuff!
As Scottie said, the shot of the beast flying off is a wonderful one -- realtime action, baby!!
My mother has a garden shot I took of a butterfly that I was sneaking up on, but when I finally got it in focus, I was shocked to see that a mantis was biting down on its head.  The first view I saw through the camera was so shocking that I forgot to press the trigger, and thus got 2 shots that weren't as great as the first thing I saw.
Insect photography is its own artform.
Good job.
Speaking of raising bugs, I used to find Luna Moth caterpillars in Virginia, and bring them into our porch.  I'd feed them their diet of Sugar Maple leaves & let them coccoon & then wait for the hatching.  They'd come out all damp and miserable, like a human baby, and dry out on our porch screens.  Once, one crawled up my arm and dried out on my earlobe.  That would've been a picture!  My mother still talks of that one --
peter johnson/denny crane

[Shadowphile]

I work doing emergency spill response in southern Ontario. I was returning from a call at 1:00 am, during which a praying mantis about 3 inches long  had landed on my coveralls. I had brushed him off my shoulder and forgotten about him. He must have clung to my back because while heading home, he jumped onto the face of the driver, who almost rolled the pick-up....

He said afterwards that he was very proud of his ability to 'scream like a girl'.

[ulthar]

Very cool pics, Ash.  And good job saving the 'little' guy.  I usually help spiders outside (I know it is not a popular view, but I LIKE spiders) if they are larger; the smaller ones just stay in the house.

Praying mantises (just what is the plural of mantis?) are very cool.  I've seen a few around here, but they are not really what I would call common.

[ulthar]

Awwwww...he's cute.

Good shot.

[Ash]

ulthar Wrote:
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Praying mantises (just what is the plural of
> mantis?) are very cool.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe they're called "mantids".
Not 100% on that.

[Jim H]

I think mantids is correct as well.  Mantid is what you call the collective group of them anyway, mantidae being their family (or order, I forget).

"They're some of the only insects in the world that can do that. "

I'm pretty sure mantids and their closest relatives are the only insects which can move their heads at all.

"They look really cool, are completely harmless and will gladly let you pick them up. "

If you irritate them enough, they can bite or pinch you a bit.  Doesn't hurt too much, but it is possible for them to draw blood.

"It's staring right at me. I wonder what it was thinking... "

Probably that if you were smaller, it would try to eat you.  Mantids, more so than most other carnivorous insects in my opinion, really make it clear that they regard people as something they'd try to eat if only they were smaller.  They're also usually pretty unimpressed with people.

"It was probably thankful that I rescued it from that web. "

I don't really think any insects are capable of feeling that way.  But oh well.

"Most people I know are absolutely terrified of praying mantises but not me, I think they're cool! "

Really?  I've never known anyone who was terrified of them.  They're one of the easiest insects to relate to for people, they don't crawl around a lot, don't eat any food people will, and will kill any insects that are smaller than them (though if you have one in your garden or what not, this does include beneficial insects like bees).  I do know in some parts of the US they occupy the unique position of an insect parents teach their kids to respect and not kill.

As may come across, they're my favorite insect.  Had a pet one for over a year.  Properly cared for, they can live about 3 years in captivity (they die in the winter normally).

BTW, Chinese mantids, which are what the pics are of, are not native to North America.  No mantids are.  Because of their nature and cannibalistic tendencies, they didn't overrun any native species, and simply integrated pretty well - somewhat like horses, another animal introduced to North America by Europeans.