Mantis at my office window - Mantis religiosa

Moved

… David J. Ferguson, 6 October, 2010 - 10:21pm

Mantis religiosa

It's a male European mantis. The underarm marks are clearly visible in the associated photos, plus it just "looks like" M. religiosa. As for range, they are wide-ranging due to ootheca sales.

Click the data and image tabs and you'll find this species is widespread in California.

… John Stanard, 6 October, 2010 - 10:19pm

Thanks

Thank you. That's interesting.

… Hayley Ross, 6 October, 2010 - 11:30pm

I'd vote for European Mantis male

I think I can see the black/white spots under the front legs, and the reddish coloring along the green wings is also sort of characteristic, I believe.

… metrioptera, 6 October, 2010 - 1:49pm

I see what you mean--still: 4"?

Now that you mention it, I can see those characteristics too. As far as size goes--do European Mantids get to 4" or might the size of this specimen be over-estimated?

… Peter Edelman, 6 October, 2010 - 7:18pm

Maybe a little over, but not by much...

...definitely not less than 3 in. Next time I'll grab my ruler along with my camera :) I could count the holes in the screen! Here are a few more shots.

… Hayley Ross, 6 October, 2010 - 8:04pm

female Euro mantid that big

I've run across females that were around 4 inches, but not males. As with the big fish that got away, maybe the estimate was a little bigger than the actual critter :-)

… Andrew Williams, 7 October, 2010 - 10:00am

idea.. European Mantis Male

… Andrew Williams, 5 October, 2010 - 4:10pm

Not sure about that--due to size and range

Bugguide's info page says that the Eurpoean Mantis gets to only 60 mm (~2.4 inches) and that it occurs in the Eastern US. I'm not an expert, but given the size and location I'd guess this is a Chinese Mantid or something else in Tenodera.

… Peter Edelman, 5 October, 2010 - 8:22pm

Chinese mantid - color seems different

I think the color of this specimen is different than typical Tenodera.
Another possibility would be Stagmomantis, but males I've seen don't look quite like this either. Though.. what I've seen are not CA species. Last, European mantid definitely has records in CA, the whole west coast actually. Have a look here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/22947/data

Tenodora - Chinese mantid, color diff

… Andrew Williams, 6 October, 2010 - 9:52am