(Mantodea)

There are more than 2,400 species of praying mantises and most of the time, I make no attempt to distinguish them. Hover over the slide show with your cursor to expand and control the images.

Praying mantises go through multiple growth stages ("instars") over the course of a year. I'm calling two of the mantises adults because they have wings. On some photos of mantises you can see stubs that will later become wings.

I took the photo labeled "Exuvia" late one evening. In the near-dark I saw a mantis and used my flash to get the picture. Once I expanded the image on my computer, I could see the ants. "Exuvia" (plural exuviae) is the word for the cast-off outer skin of arthropods. Apparently the mantis left enough edible stuff behind to interest the ants.

I took most of these photos in my back yard.

August 2024: I'll start a new section on this page, for images when I think I know the finer taxonomic division.