Wildlife encounters: Praying mantis

[stephbg]

Tonight in the shadows around the bins at Sector 7 I saw not another giant spider, but a giant praying mantis, and as a bonus it looked very much like she was laying eggs. Baby praying mantises are very cute.



Unfortunately all the shots were taken in the dark using a flash, so it was all a bit hit-and-miss, but I present to you some 5"-6" of bug:



The odd shot picked up some decent detail. I like the pattern on the back here, from residual wings perhaps?



Unfortunately the egg casing never got quite into focus, but I'll get another chance at it in daylight.

Here's a reasonable side-on shot, but by now I think she was feeling disturbed.



There's something about that face...



I left her to it.

Comments

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

those are her wings - they don't get very large in females of that species. Boys ARE capable of flight though.

[leecetheartist.livejournal.com]

Delightful! - and I'm not being ironic, I'm very fond of preying mantises. Thanks Steph!