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Praying Mantis

The Praying Mantis is probably one of the best known and most recognized insects in our insect fauna and one of the best loved. This is because of their well-deserved fame as destroyers of insect pests - hence their secondary name: "Preying Mantis." Named for their pious posture (they hold their forelegs together as if praying) these well-camouflaged predators (usually some shade of green, but also white, gray, red and even lavender) sit motionless in vegetation and patiently wait for some passing insect to come within range. Once they're close enough the mantis lunges forward and grabs its victim in a steely grip with its spiny forelegs and then leisurely dines.

While Mantids are present during all the warmer months they become particularly visible in the fall when their large size (up to six inches in females) and the roving behavior of gravid females in search of suitable egg laying sites makes them especially conspicuous.

Mantises hatch in the spring looking like diminuative versions of their parents. Over the course of the season they feed continually on ever larger prey until they reach their mature size when they seek out mates. Many males die at the time of mating – often supplying their partner with a welcome meal. The impregnated females continue feeding throughout the summer while their abdomens swell from their ripening eggs. When the eggs are ripe the female extrudes a foamy, fast hardening egg case which she attaches to plant stems, walls and any other permanent objects after which she dies. The eggs overwinter in their egg case all winter and hatch in the spring to start the cycle all over.

Within the last 50 years it has become possible to buy mantis egg cases with numerous companies supplying them to organic gardeners as "natural insecticides". While mantises are ferocious and insatiable predators they need a constant supply of prey. Once they've exhausted an area of easily caught food they spread their wings and leave seeking greener pastures so their reputation – while somewhat deserved – is often over-hyped.

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