Now, don't worry, I won't be dazzling you with information about the 2,400 species of Praying Mantis. After all, I've only captured four this week, The Mantodea or Common Green or Chinese, the Golden or Hierodula, or the common brown which is just a variation of the Common Green. However, when things really slow down with odonates, I have to post the Albino Praying Mantis that I found last weekend!
I have wondered why I seem to find them in some numbers on a flowering plant called the "Australian or Kangaroo Paw", Anigozanthos species. And the answer is that the Kangaroo Paw attracts all manner of bug (bug = the sucking plant killers like the weevils).
I must say that they're probably as interesting as my dragons and damsels, but I'll never make a dent in 2,400 species (also reported as 5,000 on six continents). Some disguise themselves - or Mother Nature did - as orchids. Others become parts of plants. They are ambush predators and probably should be known as "PrEying Mantises." The one thing that praying mantises don't have going for them is their two closest relatives, cockroaches and termites! Odd that such a beneficial insect is related to two of the most destructive.
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