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Photo#1142520
Praying Mantis - Mantis religiosa - male

Praying Mantis - Mantis religiosa - Male
Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz County, California, USA
September 18, 2015
Size: 75mm
Very sleek looking mantis climbed up the screen of my bedroom window, and continued climbing up the wall. About 75mm from head to end of body. I revised my size down to 75mm based on finally getting a ruler and measuring the length of the marks I made until I could find my ruler. 75mm puts it at the top of the size range. I've seen much, much, larger individuals in Santa Clara, CA. Oddly enough, I don't think I ever posted one. I think my reasoning back then was that a 560 pixel image of something that large was just too small to show adequate detail. Now I regret it, because if the same species, it would shatter the 75mm upper limit.

On the other hand, the ones I saw in Europe were closer to the 50-75mm range.

Moved
Moved from Mantids.

 
Thanks, for the ID John!
Has anyone every questioned the 75mm upper limit of the size stated in the guide? I'm sure I've seen larger Praying Mantises but I can't say for sure they are the same species. It was years ago, so It might be hard to find the actual images.

 
Size
You're likely seeing Tenodera sinensis, the Chinese mantis, if it is substantially larger than Mantis religiosa. A big female T. sinensis can be nearly twice the length of M. religiosa.

 
That had to be it then!
Because it was that size! I was looking for insects on an elephant ear plant. This mantis was inches from my face before I realized it was not part of the plant. I nearly had a heart attack!

Had also seen a tiny Stagmomantis californica not far from there. I consider myself lucky to see these insects. They are magnificent!

mantis religiosa male
mantis religiosa male

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