The Great Predator

Chinese Mantid

Last summer I noticed it, too--almost as an overnight change.
Dozens of mantids--where yesterday there had been none, hanging in their upside down pose, densely scattered throughout the flower tops.

The larger ones are the most in number here, Chinese Mantids, with only a few of the smaller European Mantids among them. This year, choosing goldenrod as a hunting ground, where their long, slender green and brown-winged bodies blend perfectly with its leaves.

raptorial forelegs

They step forward slowly and deliberately. Then patiently wait, motionless, for unsuspecting prey.

The wide-eyed triangular head is quick to turn in response to the most minor movement. Front legs grasping in a flash that which wanders carelessly too close. Hungrily devouring every morsel, headfirst. Until only a small scrap of a leg remains.

Mantid with prey

Mantid eating

voracious appetite

I kept one in a terrarium on the porch for a few days, bringing her offerings each morning from the plants in the field. My collection of 2 Harvestmen (Daddy Longlegs), 2 Milkweed Bugs, a shield bug, a katydid and a caterpillar was eaten before noon with no complaint. Even while devouring one held in her right foreleg, the left caught a bug and held it tightly in its vise-like grasp. A two-fisted eater!
(Harvestmen are eaten legs first!)

posing before release to field