Kill of the day

[harryallard]

Post details of your mantis's kill of the day here.

Mine took out a big moth yesterday

but he left the wings

 

[Rick]

Last week shield female took on a cicada killer and won.

 

[harryallard]

Last week shield female took on a cicada killer and won.

cicada killers are huge.

weren't you worried it could kill your mantis?

or was it a female ck?

 

[idolomantis]

not really recent but: ameles vs wasp; ameles won.. that was 2 years ago but it was tha bomb B)

 

[The_Asa]

Nearly all of Oxypilus Distinctus (boxer) kills. They would take on anything!

A more recent kill involved an L4 shield mantis and a moth with very large wings. The moth refused to move and was still sitting there after a couple of hours so I sprayed it with some water to make it move. The shield mantis just drank the water off the moth wings until they fluttered and he ripped them off.

 

[obregon562]

one my L5 wide arms just took down a subadult katydid. it was about 3x its size! very cool.

 

[Meiji]

I have some L3/L4-ish Sphodromantis centralis that have no problem tackling grasshoppers larger than they can handle and were doing exactly that at feeding time last night. When their prey is too big to lift, they just pin it down and sink their faces into the prey's neck like Dracula having a meal or something. They are so much better at tacking food than, for example, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis -- perhaps because their bodies are much sturdier and more robust. Conversely, my Pseudovates arizonae is such a dainty eater that he considers most flies too big to handle and exists primarily on tiny moths caught just for him.

 

[harryallard]

i think the katydid is the biggest so far

 

[harryallard]

but then again a cicada killer is just cool

 

[Rick]

i think the katydid is the biggest so far

Cicada killer is bigger and much more ferocious. It was a female cicada killer which are the ones that can sting and are larger. I was not worried about the mantis. She is an old girl and will eat anything. She made short work of the killer. It tried stinging but I think mantids know how to deal with bees and wasps.

 

[harryallard]

a female cicada killer :mellow:

now you know what your up against people!

 

[collinchang635]

It tried stinging but I think mantids know how to deal with bees and wasps.

Mantid can dodge the sting?

 

[idolomantis]

Cicada killer is bigger and much more ferocious. It was a female cicada killer which are the ones that can sting and are larger. I was not worried about the mantis. She is an old girl and will eat anything. She made short work of the killer. It tried stinging but I think mantids know how to deal with bees and wasps.

i did notice too, when my little ameles tackled a large hornet it avoid a sting and hold it so it could not move the stinger.

powerfull little hunters.

@ i like mantis: yeah, there pretty bright for insects.

 

[Birdfly]

I had to get rid of my Leiurus quinquestriatus death stalker scorpions in a real hurry as a kid (parents) but i couldnt so i gave them to my Hierodula membranacea females. not very proud of it but hey i was a kid <_<

 

[hibiscusmile]

what's a ck killer? :huh: I feel like I don't know anything! Aw shutup!

 

[idolomantis]

what's a ck killer? :huh: I feel like I don't know anything! Aw shutup!

as i just read somekind of big bug with a stinger :lol:

 

[harryallard]

its a mahoooosive hornet

 

[Birdfly]

Cicada killer, dont know if its the same species as yours Rick?

http://search.live.com/images/results.aspx...ers_hand_35.jpg

 

[TylerFerretLord]

what's a ck killer? :huh: I feel like I don't know anything! Aw shutup!

Any of a number of species of wasp in the Sphecius genus. They're entomophagous parasites of cicadas.

...Why do I know so much about cicadas? I seriously do not remember reading this stuff. @.@