Category Archives: Mantidae

Egg cases

Earlier this summer I found a few praying mantis egg cases, of both Mantis religiosa and Tenodera sinensis.  The Tenodera egg cases hatched and my friends and I raised some of the young for a while, however the Mantis egg cases never hatched. I’m not sure why – I never had much luck with these as a kid either!

mantis_1 copy

I found this egg case already ripped open. You can see the eggs on the inside, surrounded by the foam of the case. Too bad they never turned into baby mantises. mantis_2 copyIf you have raised european mantids before, have they required any special treatment (temperature, humidity) in order to hatch successfully?

Predation

Just some cool shots I wanted to share, of a praying mantis taking advantage of the fact that security lights on buildings bring in a lot of insects. It managed to catch a yummy looking mayfly.

A new friend

A young praying mantis, keeping me company in the lab, snacking on a little katydid.

Ryerson Lab

Functional Morphology, Sensory Biology, Behavior, Biomechanics

I spell it nature

Trying to make sense of the world through science and language.