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Praying Mantis

Stagmomantis sp.

Photo by Jack Settle
Published on Project Noah
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36.7473, -95.9808

Field Notes

Description:

I found this mantis on my porch. I put her on my mailbox for pictures. As you can probably tell, she was gravid. I kept her over night, and she laid an ootheca (egg sac)! I released her the next day. I will keep the sac until the tiny mantids hatch out of the sac in the spring. Then, they will be released.

Habitat:

My front porch

Notes:

Not sure what species it is. I've never really been good at mantis identification!

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
Jack Settle
Thanks ForestDragon! I can't find any good images on the brown phases of either species. Which one do you think it is?
ForestDragon
This beauty is from Genus Stagmomantis. She is very likely Stagmomantis carolina (Carolina Mantis) but Stagmomantis limbata can be found nearby as well. S. limbata is supposed to have a blue lip but I don't know if it occurs in the brown colored ones. S. limbata has some other telling coloration with wings and the abdomen under the wings but I'm not so good at those and we don't have them here in NY. :) Hope this helps. Here is the link to the Genus page on Bugguide: http://bugguide.net/node/view/4820/bgpage
Jack Settle
chesterbperry: Oh boy! And I'll be looking for your spotting! :) Mr. Goodwin: Cool! Do you know what species yours is?
Aaron_G
Smart move with the egg coolilng, Jack. I was about to suggest that after seeing your spotting, but quickly read the previous comments first. ;-) I also have an ootheca at home!
chesterbperry
It was a mess Jack, my father was in town for the holiday and discovered them in middle of the night when getting a drink of water, he described it like walking through rice krispies. Thanks for teaching me a new word, "ootheca", I made spotting today I will get to use it on. :)
Jack Settle
I've been keeping it in our garage where it can endure the natural temperatures. I've hatched out a wild ootheca before, and I've seen how tiny the babies are and how many. I can't imagine that in the house!
chesterbperry
Just don't keep it inside, or they will hatch prematurely. I once had one on a houseplant that went unnoticed, until about thanksgiving, then we had mantes all over the dining room.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
BioBlitz! Oklahoma
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Oklahoma and Texas Wildlife
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2013 Best Wildlife Photo
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National Geographic's Great Nature Project
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The Bug Chicks Sofa Safari

Tags

Photographed
PublishedNovember 25, 2013

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