I actually saw one the other day when I stopped on my way back from St. Louis. He/She was on a wall under a light above a doorway. He/She was having a good time snagging all the bugs flying around the light. I stopped and watched him/her for a good 10 minutes. It was awesome.
They are some of my favorite bugs. Makes me want to get a new Manterror.
They're killer cockroaches, hyperevolved into precise stalkers. Imagine them if they'd been around in the Devonian/Carboniferous - they'd be the size of DOGS, man!
The Mantid body plan is pretty neat in that it also evolved at least twice in two unrelated types of insects. Mantises, like the little guy you found, and Mantisflies, which are not even related. Mnatisflies even have a complete insect life cycle with a larva, that can sometimes transform itself into a different type of larva, and pupa, while a normal Mantis just have a nymph stage, the babies look just like the adults. Mantisflies do tend to be much smaller then the Mantises.
This body type has even appeared in crustasions. Mantis Shrips are nasty little things that look like a Mantis and a Shrip spliced together.
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They are some of my favorite bugs. Makes me want to get a new Manterror.
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The Mantid body plan is pretty neat in that it also evolved at least twice in two unrelated types of insects. Mantises, like the little guy you found, and Mantisflies, which are not even related. Mnatisflies even have a complete insect life cycle with a larva, that can sometimes transform itself into a different type of larva, and pupa, while a normal Mantis just have a nymph stage, the babies look just like the adults. Mantisflies
do tend to be much smaller then the Mantises.
This body type has even appeared in crustasions. Mantis Shrips are nasty little things that look like a Mantis and a Shrip spliced together.
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