Tagged With: Tenodera

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis

After work I met my mom at her house and we emptied the garage. I have a few pictures of it, showing how it’s leaning, particularly at the back. We loaded trash into her van to take to the county transfer station and I took a few things to give away or otherwise deal with. When I got home and was unloading my van I noticed this praying mantis on the roof of Margaret’s car. I believe but am not sure that it is a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis). I think it is not fully grown, as it was only about two inches long. Like true bugs, grasshoppers, cockroaches, and crickets (to name a few), the mantises undergo what is known as incomplete metamorphosis. That is, instead of larval and pupal stages, the emerge from their eggs as nymphs and grow through a series of instars, where they shed their exoskeletons as they grow.

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Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

Cathy noticed this praying mantis outside our kitchen door this afternoon. When I first went out, it was facing away from me and then moved into the evening primroses off the side of the patio. Rather than leaving it with that, I picked it up and moved it back onto the steps. From there it moved onto the wall, and that’s where my best pictures of it were taken. This is an import, a Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis), which were introduced from China in 1896 to combat pests. It out competes many of the native preying mantises, which are sadly in decline.

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Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

Tenodera sinensis (Chinese Mantis)

I don’t know if this is the same Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) I photographed at the end of September (see Wednesday, September 30, 2020) but I wouldn’t be surprised. Cathy noticed it on the outside of the kitchen window and I took a few photos of it through the glass. Then she suggested I take it across the street to show our neighbor’s kids, who were quite interested in seeing it. They especially enjoyed when it crawled up my arm and onto the back of my head. I put it on the ground and took a few more photos of it, including this one.

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