Bugmankeith
Well-known member
Can Chinese and European mantis females fly or glide a good distance, say enough to get across a street?
Female mantis flight
- Thread starter Bugmankeith
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Summerbug
Active member
Definitely yes for the Chinese mantis! It's more likely to be observed early in their adult lives, shortly after their last molt (when they first get their wings). Once they start getting large and building up their egg mass, they get too heavy to fly. I saw on numerous occasions, young females outright flying and sustaining actual flight pretty high up. One was flying high around a street lamp with a bat trailing her. She got away and landed. I thought she would be a male. I picked her up and noticed she was a female. I moved her to a better place than a parking lot for a grocery store. That's not the only time I saw a female fly. She was a T. aridifolia sinsensi (Chinese mantis) I am almost positive. Then another time, a Stagmomantis (carolina species) flew from a mail box into my truck through the window (at a pretty fast speed). I have not observed a European mantis female fly, but I don't find them around here as often as the others. Did you see females some flying?
my female Hymenopus will fly if sufficiently disturbed, esp. when still thin
