Collecting yesterday with ABbuggin

Went out yesterday to two of my favorite spots. We have had a cool week so the mantids were not very numerous. At the first place we found s. carolina ooths literally everywhere. Also some brunners mantids.

Andrew found this brunners on a brown weed literally within seconds of arriving. I found one soon after but I guess I didn't take a pic:

Some other critters. I like the katydid with the blue eyes.

wheel bug

Chinese looking pretty sick





Green chinese:







Brown one:

Went over to the spot with the narrow winged mantids. These seem to only be found in one small area. I was happy to see lots of their ooths. Only found a couple of the adults though. THere were some chinese mixed in with them that we moved to the other area.

Narrow wing mantis ooths

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Parasitic wasps hatching from this ooth. You can see one of them. They obviously hatch out before winter:

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Here was something I suspected. Chinese male mating with narrow wing female. There must be some mechanism that prevents him fertilizing her eggs.

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Really rough narrow wing female. She had a wound like many of them did that we think is caused by the thorns on the plants.

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Brown narrow winged female:



Was a nice trip even though we only found one caroilna in an area full of their ooths. I am not sure where they adults were at. I found many last time I went. I am very curious to know how the mating between the chinese and narrow wing works, if it does.

You got some good pics. The carolina ooths were so thick in areas, it was lie picking grapes! I saw several sticks with two ooths, and some with three!!! :blink: But, they were only like that by the bridge pillars.

If anything does come of the chinese x narrow wing, we will find out because I will be saving her ooths.

ABbuggin said:

You got some good pics. The carolina ooths were so thick in areas, it was lie picking grapes! I saw several sticks with two ooths, and some with three!!! :blink: But, they were only like that by the bridge pillars.If anything does come of the chinese x narrow wing, we will find out because I will be saving her ooths.

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I was wondering if you would. She has probably been mated before so I am not sure.

Forgot a pic!

Nice pics. Looks like you had a productive day. Glad you two were able to arrange to get together and go... that's nice.



What was the deal with those 2 S. carolina ooths together on that stick (about 5th & 6th pics)... what's that in the middle? Or was it one that somehow got bent/separated?

Katnapper said:

Nice pics. Looks like you had a productive day. Glad you two were able to arrange to get together and go... that's nice.

What was the deal with those 2 S. carolina ooths together on that stick (about 5th & 6th pics)... what's that in the middle? Or was it one that somehow got bent/separated?

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That was an ooth I found. It was only one ooth, an odd one at that. I actually have it and I'm pretty sure it will hatch. My best guess was the female got disturbed while laying and continued on another surface; but I found it only attached to the single stick.

ABbuggin said:

That was an ooth I found. It was only one ooth, an odd one at that. I actually have it and I'm pretty sure it will hatch. My best guess was the female got disturbed while laying and continued on another surface; but I found it only attached to the single stick.

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I wish I had some friends around here to look for bugs. Maybe when the kid gets a little older.

wow great pics! you guys are very lucky you can go out and just find mantis' like that, I'd have to drive an hour away to find mantises

The interspecific mating should not yield any fertile offspring, if any.

Did you keep the wheel bug? I have a collegue who is interested in those ones.

That looks like another great trip! I cant believe how manymantids there are there!

Christian said:

The interspecific mating should not yield any fertile offspring, if any.Did you keep the wheel bug? I have a collegue who is interested in those ones.

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I have the wheel bug. She is actually pregnant, and should lay soon. If your collegue wants several, he needs to contact me later next year, I am pretty good at finding them (early to late summer).

ABbuggin said:

I have the wheel bug. She is actually pregnant, and should lay soon. If your collegue wants several, he needs to contact me later next year, I am pretty good at finding them (early to late summer).

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No chance that he might get the pregnant one that lays soon and you search for other ones?

Or at least some of the eggs?

Christian said:

The interspecific mating should not yield any fertile offspring, if any.Did you keep the wheel bug? I have a collegue who is interested in those ones.

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Even though they are closely related? I never find anything that looks like a mix, it is either one or the other. These two are pretty similar so I was not surprised to see they will mate.

The lack of hybrids points to the fact that they don't seem to be genetically compatible.