My Goodness, my mantid!

I have to say, I had given up all hope of ever seeing Milton, Myrtle or any of their twiggy brethren again a long time ago. I assumed that they had moved on to fresh hunting grounds or been eaten by a bird or something. So it was quite a surprise to see a very large mantid clinging to the plametto by my porch on Saturday. I have to credit my new (and very nice) neighbour Alison for spotting it. Oddly enough we had just been chatting about my mantids, since she had seen one on my mint plant when she came to look at the flat next door a month or so ago. I had just finished lamenting their demise/departure when she looked over my shoulder and said, "Hey, isn't that one over there?"



And by golly was it ever a mantid! The fucker was huge - about 4 1/2 inches long and brown not green like they had been (the fully mature Carolina Mantid is brown). I don't know what sort of scuffle it had got into, but it seemed to be missing one of it's front claw-leg-type-things. Since the front legs are the business bit of a mantid I'm not sure how well a one-legged guy will fair in the long term. Anyway, it stayed on the palm frond all afternoon and evening but when I checked in the morning there was no sign of it. I can't be sure that it was one of mine but I'm going to assume that it hadn't travelled that far since it didn't have wings yet. Around this time of year Mantids shed their skin a final time and develop wings so they can fly off and find a mate. For the males mating is the end of things. In fact, sometimes they don't even get to finish that; often the females turn around and bite their heads off in the middle of copulation. Luckily (for the species not the individual) their bodies are able to finish the job with out the head - a trait that may not be unique to Mantids according to some of my female friends. Having devoured her mate, the female then lays eggs in a foamy substance that hardens into an egg case and shortly afterwards joins her mate in the hereafter. The next spring the little nymphs hatch and it all starts again. Oh, the circle of life! You'll pardon me if I don't break into a rendition of one of Elton John's most stomach-churning* efforts at this point. Instead, I think I'll take my sangria outside and see if I can find the blighter again.


-Mr. Ed

*Which is really saying something.