Posts Tagged: praying mantis
Let Us Prey!
Everybody eats in the pollinator garden. Everybody. The pollinators in our garden in Vacaville,...
A praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by Andrew Pfeifer) clings to a showy milkweed leaf as she dines on a longhorn bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis is a cunning predator. The score: praying mantis: 1. Longhorn bee: 0. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Nature's way; praying mantis devours her meal. The longhorn bee, probably a Melissodes agilis, erred in flying too close to the predator. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
After her meal, the praying mantis climbs toward the top of the milkweed to look for more "meal movement." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Delightful Find
Any day's a good day when you find the ootheca (egg case) of a praying mantis in your yard. It's...
The egg case or ootheca of a praying mantis, is attached to the stem of a lavender plant. Note the small hole on the left, near the top--the exit hole of a parasitoid, according to Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A young praying mantis searching for prey on a blanket flower, Gallardia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis dining on a honey bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Please Eat a Stink Bug!
Oh, if we could just engage in some menu planning and preparation! How often have you thought of...
A praying mantis at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, dines on a stink bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis entomology graduate student Charlotte Herbert, who is seeking her doctorate, takes a selfie with a praying mantis eating a stink bug. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer
You've heard the expression, "On a wing and a prayer." It apparently originated during World War...
A tattered monarch makes a refueling stop on a Tithonia in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Wings are shredded and scales slashed, but this male monarch still flies. Here it pauses to soak up some sunshine. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A predator missed--but a miss is as good as a mile. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A migratory monarch, after sipping some flight fuel in Vacaville, Calif. takes off "on a wing and a prayer," heading for an overwintering site along the coast. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Monarch and the Mantis
If you're rearing monarchs or offering them a “way station” of nectar-producing flowers...
A gravid praying mantis, her abdomen bloated, grabs a migrating monarch nectaring on a butterfly bush. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The praying mantis, perfectly camouflaged, resembles a leaf. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A spiked foreleg circles the monarch's thorax. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The spiked foreleg pierces a wing. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)