Corralitas Drive: Day Of The Mantids

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 22, 2017.  A neighbor was pruning plumbago, felt something on her leg.  She thought it was the cat, until it reached her thigh.  It was a 3" long, green Praying Mantis.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 22, 2017.  Later, the neighbor opened the green bin and a tan mantis popped out.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 22, 2017.  The neighbor scooped up the mantis and placed it on a nearby bush so it wouldn't get run over by a car.  It too, looked to be about 3".

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 22, 2017.  The tan mantis was a better model the the green mantis.

Click here for all our neighborhood praying mantis posts.
See also: Unusal Bugs

This was post was actually published 10-16-17 and backdated to the date the photos were shot and originally published on Twitter. Click on the photo dates for original tweets. 

Red Car Property: Mantis Ootheca On California Black Walnut Tree

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 19, 2015.  An inch long praying mantis ootheca, or egg case, is attached about 11' up in the California Black Walnut Tree at the Corralitas cul-de-sac entrance to the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Hundreds of tiny praying mantis will hatch from this egg case.  Praying Mantis are a beneficial insect that help control pests.

Click here for for all our praying mantis posts.

Corralitas Drive: Ambush Predator

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015.  The 2" long Praying Mantis is still hanging around near the spiderweb in the Bougainvillea. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015.  Since she's same shade of beige/brown as the stems of the plant, she's very hard to find now that she's hanging out up among the flowers. 

Click here for all our Praying Mantis posts.

Corralitas Drive: Who's Hiding In The Bougainvillea?

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 11, 2015.  For the past week, a 2" Praying Mantis has taken up residence in a neighbor's Bougainvillea.  Her camouflage is so well adapted to the thorny vine, her large eyes are pretty much the only thing that give away her presence. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 11, 2015.  According to the neighbor whose yard she's living in, "Ms. Mantis has been hanging around a spiderweb, poaching bugs as they get caught in the web."  What an opportunistic hunter.  

Learn more about mantids:  
What's That Bug?
Bug Guide

Click here for all our Praying Mantis posts.
 

Corralitas Drive: Praying Mantis

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 14, 2015.  A 4" long Praying Mantis was was hanging upside down inside a patio umbrella.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

If you look closely at the above photo, she's cleaning one of her antenna.  She seem to have very large and wide abdomen and  check out the spikes on her front legs!  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 14, 2015.  She has excellent camouflage for a leafy green garden. There were even imperfections in her wings.  

Mantids are ambush predators.  I think this one had its sites set on the semi feral cat who likes to sleep beneath this umbrella.

She may be a California Mantis (Stagmomantis Californica).
*UPDATE:  We submitted this wide-bodied mantis to What'sThatBug? for ID, and she may be a Bordered Mantis (Stagmomantis limbata).
Daniel Marlos, The Bugman of Mt. Washington, admits it may take an expert to sort out the ID.   

Read more about Mantids:
Whats That Bug?
Bug Guide

Corralitas Drive: Mantis Ootheca...Say What?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 24, 2015.  A neighbor noticed a scary looking, hard shelled, bug-like thing on my fence yesterday.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

At 2 1/2" long, I took photos and then let her poke it with a stick.  It popped of the fence, looking like it had been there for quite some time. We lost it in the leaf matter.  I sent the photos to What's That Bug?  Daniel Marlos, the Bugman of Mt. Washington responded. It's an Ootheca, an egg case of a Preying Manits, looking like it had already released hundreds of aphid-eating babies.  

Read more: What's That Bug?

Suddenly the scale of the egg-laying in the Alien movies is not so out of the realm of possibilities.

Riverside Place: ALIEN! *UPDATED **Again, This Is Turning Into A Scary Halloween Post

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, October 19, 2013.  The subject line of the email said "Funky bug."  Indeed, it is perhaps the funkiest bug I've seen in the Red Car Property Neighborhood.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

It looks like a cross between a Walking Stick and a Mantis.  A quick look at both What's That Bug? & Bug Guide did not bring me new insight.  So I'm submitting it to the Bug Man of Mt Washington's What's That Bug? hoping for an ID.
   
Vandiveer's kid found the creature on the front walk of his house.  It's a generally more shaded part of the neighborhood with lots of trees, in Red Car Canyon.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, October 19, 2013.  For scale, Vandiveer used a key.

UPDATE: We got a speedy response from Daniel Marlos, The Bugman of Mt Washington, who initially thought this might be an exotic species of Fulgorid Planthopper commonly known as a Lanternfly.    

Marlos requested confirmation from BugGuide contributing editor, Eric Eaton, who provided a correction, "Headless Mantis.  This is actually a headless Chinese Mantis, probably a male ;-).  It is also missing its front pair of legs." 

Read more: What's That Bug?  (You should check out the Planthopper links on What's That Bug post.  They are really wild!)  Thanks Daniel.  Sorry for the trouble.

My enthusiasm to ID the unusual bug clouded my usual skepticism.  I failed to ask a really important question, "Was the bug alive when you found it?"** 

If you're submitting photos of unusual bugs or other wildlife found in the Red Car Property Neighborhood, please  include as much information as possible, including approximate time, date, location, surrounding habitat, if it was dead or alive & what it was doing when you found it: redcarproperty@gmail.com

**UPDATE 2:30 PM: Vandiveer, who photographed the bug yesterday, just emailed: 

"This guy seemed very much alive when we found/photographed it. Although it was also extremely photogenic, so now the headless part makes sense. I just went out to see if he was still where I had put him (he crawled onto a piece of paper so I could move him) and he hadn't gone far. Amazingly he is still able to move, even 6 hours later, however he is now clearly looking deceased." 

I suggested he capture the bug, just in case, Vandiveer responded, furthering the headless mystery:
"Got him. Although like I said he's not as lively as he was six hours ago. Now if you touch him his legs move a bit but that's it. 6+ hours ago he was walking around."

Stay tuned...

Marlos adds, "We have heard that headless Mantids remain ambulatory many hours after decapitation. Perhaps this is to ensure that the mating act continues if the female bites off the head of her paramour."

Thanks again What's That Bug?
 

Corralitas Drive: Another Day, Another Alien

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2012, 6:08 PM.  We encountered small (3") Praying Mantis crossing Corralitas.  The dogs were fascinated.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2012.  She ran very quickly across the street.  After posing for a few photos she ran into the nearby leaf matter. 

 

Learn more than you ever thought you wanted to know about Praying Mantis: Wikipedia and BugGuide

Corralitas Drive: Praying Mantis

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, October 17, 2010. A very large Praying Mantis took shelter from the rain in the door frame of a new house on Corralitas. (Click on photo enlarge and see her making eye contact with the photographer.) 
Saturday, at least three neighbors observed this Praying Mantis posing upside down on the side of a new house on Corralitas Drive. She is still hanging around as of today. Her body was about 4 inches long. One neighbor remarked, "she looks just like a dead leaf." Indeed, this predator uses its remarkable camouflage to lie in wait for unsuspecting insect prey.
Learn more about Praying Mantis on Bug Guide. 
October 19, 2010, UPDATE: This Praying Mantis is indeed clever. When she was hangs on the side of the house, she fully extends her body, legs and wings (that looked like leaves), so she appeared to be about 4 inches long. This morning, I observed her tucked up into the door frame, making herself small; she was about 3 inches long.