# What is this thing on this wild mantis?



## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

These are not my pics..there jgogums a member from the canon forum..Im only uploading them to post them to see if any of u know what it is&gt;?do any of u have any idear what this is around his neck and claws..


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## Rob Byatt (Feb 29, 2008)

I would say it is a tendril off a climbing plant, my first thought was _Passiflora_, but I presume the mantis is African and I can't remember if _Passiflora_ is found there


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## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

whats the speices called rob?


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## joossa (Feb 29, 2008)

Strange... It could be a tendril. However tendrils grow slowly and would not wrap around the mantid like that in a short time without the mantid noticing. It could have also gotten stuck on it somehow.

May it's a worm of some kind? Hmmmm....


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## Rob Byatt (Feb 29, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> whats the speices called rob?


_Passiflora_ sp.   



joossa said:


> However tendrils grow slowly and would not wrap around the mantid like that in a short time without the mantid noticing.


_Passiflora_ sp. tendrils can curl a lot quicker than you'd imagine, and would continue to do so even if removed from the plant


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## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

i mean the mantis rob not the plant :lol: ,,what speices is it?


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## joossa (Feb 29, 2008)

> Passiflora sp. tendrils can curl a lot quicker than you'd imagine, and would continue to do so even if removed from the plant


That makes sense.


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## blitzmantis (Feb 29, 2008)

The mantid has two pupils in it's eye!


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## Rob Byatt (Feb 29, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> i mean the mantis rob not the plant :lol: ,,what speices is it?


Well you never asked that  

At first I thought it was a _Sphodromantis_ sp., but now I'm not sure if it could be _Hierodula_. I'd need a full head shot to be sure.


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## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

blitzmantis said:


> The mantid has two pupils in it's eye!


its got damaged eyes


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## idolomantis (Feb 29, 2008)

its a plant its a passiflora plant do you know what that means?!? :blink: 

answer is nothing... :lol: 

gnib gnab gna my ooth i hatching lalala....


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## Borya (Feb 29, 2008)

Where have this photo been taken?


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## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

Borya said:


> Where have this photo been taken?


not sure..i can find out tho..


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## macro junkie (Feb 29, 2008)

Borya said:


> Where have this photo been taken?


Hawaii


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## Tunedbeat (Feb 29, 2008)

Could be some type of parasitic worm, I've seen them crawling out of crickets and grasshoppers. Or, it could just be as mentioned part of a plant. We may never know unless it is removed and examined.


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## Tunedbeat (Feb 29, 2008)

Tunedbeat said:


> Could be some type of parasitic worm, I've since them crawling out of crickets and grasshoppers. Or, it could just be as mentioned part of a plant. We may never know unless it is removed and examined.


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## Morpheus uk (Feb 29, 2008)

Looks exactly like something planty but i would think it a parasite aswell :mellow:


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## OGIGA (Feb 29, 2008)

The mantis got into a fight with a plant.


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## Rick (Feb 29, 2008)

Part of a plant it appears.


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## Christian (Feb 29, 2008)

> Where have this photo been taken?Hawaii


There are no native mantids on Hawaii. _Tenodera angustipennis_ was introduced there, but this species obviously does not belong to that species. So, there must have been a second introduction of some _Hierodula_ species. I would really like to know of some records of this incident.


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## Greg (Feb 29, 2008)

Christian said:


> There are no native mantids on Hawaii. _Tenodera angustipennis_ was introduced there, but this species obviously does not belong to that species. So, there must have been a second introduction of some _Hierodula_ species. I would really like to know of some records of this incident.


Hi, I took the images posted here via macro junkie. There is some discussion on the photography forum where I initially posted that it could be a proboscis (sorry...spelling) of a butterfly.

It's interesting as I just got back from the park where I took the images (yesterday) to try and find her and see if I could get some more close up images. She was on a series of plants that were fairly secluded from the larger bushy areas of the park so I thought maybe she might still be there.

No luck, but I did find two partially eaten moth/butterflys right below where she was yesterday. I took some images and will try to post in a bit. Heads gone on both and while the abdomen was intact the carcass seemed "feather" light; like the insides were gone. I no very little about insects but I've spent a bit of time at the park practicing my macro techniques and have a series of pics where a 3 inch mantid ate every last morsel of some large winged bug.

Do mantids sometimes eat part of a meal, like the head, and drop the rest? Of course other things could've eaten these butterflies as it is in the wild...geckos, spiders, etc...are all present.

Sorry for my ignorance in this area. I just it was weird to see something like this on a mantid. I've taken thousands of photos of these guys at this park and never saw whatever it is around that is around his neck/arm.


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## ABbuggin (Feb 29, 2008)

Greg said:


> Hi, I took the images posted here via macro junkie. There is some discussion on the photography forum where I initially posted that it could be a proboscis (sorry...spelling) of a butterfly. It's interesting as I just got back from the park where I took the images (yesterday) to try and find her and see if I could get some more close up images. She was on a series of plants that were fairly secluded from the larger bushy areas of the park so I thought maybe she might still be there.
> 
> No luck, but I did find two partially eaten moth/butterflys right below where she was yesterday. I took some images and will try to post in a bit. Heads gone on both and while the abdomen was intact the carcass seemed "feather" light; like the insides were gone. I no very little about insects but I've spent a bit of time at the park practicing my macro techniques and have a series of pics where a 3 inch mantid ate every last morsel of some large winged bug.
> 
> ...


Now thats make a lot a sense, I bet it is a proboscis. Thats why its all wrapped around the mantis.


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## Mantida (Mar 1, 2008)

Mantids will drop some portion of their food sometimes, almost always wings are dropped. It depends on species though, some will drop partially eaten prey, others the withered husks of their meal, and some will eat the entire thing down to nothing.

The proboscis explains why she is so dirty looking in the pictures; butterfly scales after a meal. The way it is wrapped around her forearm looks strange though.


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## Krissim Klaw (Mar 1, 2008)

Wow, that's a crazy picture, never seen something wrapped around a mantis like that before. Maybe she is into bondage.


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## MantidLord (Mar 20, 2008)

Krissim Klaw said:


> Wow, that's a crazy picture, never seen something wrapped around a mantis like that before. Maybe she is into bondage.


 :lol: It was payback for all the butterflies the mantis ate.


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