A few short weeks ago the praying mantid egg case I purchased at a local plant nursery hatched out hundreds of young mantids. When they first appeared, they were a mere quarter inch long. I found this one today and he is already an inch long.
Notice the drop of water clinging to his “armpit”? Since it hasn’t rained here in quite some time, the droplet must be dew.
These Chinese mantids are one of two common species found here in the East. The other is the European mantid. Both, as you can probably tell from their names, are imported species. Here in the U.S., we have about 20 native mantid species with only the Carolina mantid being found here in Pennsylvania (and only rarely at that). Most native mantids are southern species.
Tags: good bugs