The Preternatural Praying Mantis

I saw a new visitor to the butterfly bush on Friday - a praying mantis.  I was getting in the car to go to the grocery store and noticed it.  I quickly ran for my camera to get a shot.  They are called a praying mantis because sitting on a twig they look like they are praying.

Did you know there are over 2000 species of praying mantis?  There are only 20 species native to North America and only six in the U.S.  However, some species, such as Chinese mantids, have been introduced here as pest control and are now common.  Just about any type of bug is on the praying mantis' dinner menu.  But there are other things as well.  Would you believe birds?  Here's a photo by Richard Walkup from West Chester, PA who took this photo of a praying mantis catching a hummingbird!  (Click on the Bird Watcher's Digest link below for more pictures and full story.)

Source:  Bird Watcher's Digest

The praying mantis is also known to catch frogs, lizards, snakes, and rodents.  A voracious predator, the praying mantis could just as easily be called the preying mantis.

The praying mantis catches its prey with spiked forelegs for a good grip; it usually bites the head off first.  Scientists watching two mantids mating saw the female bite off the head of the male!  It was believed this was normal practice until two mantes left alone with just a video camera performed an elaborate courtship ritual and this time it did NOT end with the female biting the male's head.  Whether this behavior is normal in the wild is still under debate.  It may depend upon the species or simply whether the female is hungry or not.  In the photo below, the male is much smaller than the female.  Maybe it's understandable if the female thinks he's prey.

Source:  Wikipedia

The praying mantis has a short life - only about a year  (Even shorter if the male is unlucky.)  It begins as an egg, and hatches into a nymph which is pretty much just a smaller version of the adult.  The nymph molts many times as it grows and after the last molt most species have wings.  If not enough food is available, non-mating mantids may also eat each other, particularly nymphs.

Mantids are ambush predators and sit in wait of prey.  Most have good camouflage imitating ants, flowers, tree bark and/or leaves.

 

They will sometimes move back and forth in a swaying motion mimicking leaves blowing in the breeze.  The praying mantis on my butterfly bush doesn't seem all THAT well camouflaged, although if you were walking by and gave it a quick glance you might not notice it.  The camouflage also aids the mantis in avoiding predators.  Some species in Africa are even able to turn black after a wildfire in order to blend in with its surroundings.

I have seen praying mantes on the skirting of my neighbor's house near the creeping phlox where a ton of crickets live.  It's logical it would also be on my butterfly bush because a lot of insects hang out there.  Autumn is when the females lay egg cases on the underside of leaves or twigs.  I didn't notice any egg cases, but maybe that's what the praying mantis was doing.  It was 42 degrees (Fahrenheit) when I got up Saturday morning.  Generally, mantids do die when winter comes along.  I don't know what temperatures it can withstand, but hopefully my seeing it on the butterfly bush for the first time wasn't also its swan song.  For a video and more information, click here.