mantid fly

[Johnald Chaffinch]

anyone know anything about it and what it does, is it related to mantids?

 

[PseudoDave]

It's not related to mantids, apart from being an insect. They use the weapons in much the same way though, they're not as rare as people think, but they're hard to find. Great looking though aren't they? :-D

If there was anywhere to source them, i'd get them, but I dare say their requirements will be quite a bit different than our little mantids.

There are lots of different species, some looking like house flys, others like the wasp/hornet form you've just posted.

 

[infinity]

it's a fly... totally different species but a pretty cool example of convergent evolution... (like how a dolphin ended up looking like a shark - even though one's a fish and the other's a mammal)

if anyone gets a colony of these going, count me in for a sale

 

[Johnald Chaffinch]

i was thinking it might not be convergent evolution that's made it look so much like a mantis. i was thinking some arthropods have quite good visual recognition, like jumping spiders, and a fly slowly evolving into something that resembles a mantis might make it less vulnerable to certain predators. though i guess it will use it's front arms for grabbing prey so maybe it is convergent ... :wink:

 

[Samzo]

what are they actuly called and where are they native to?

 

[Ian]

I was just doing a bit of research on them. They are in their won family called Mantispidae which overal mantis fly family, with lots of different genus. I see some places mention them to be used as pest control, which makes sense, as mantids are used for pest control, but the mantis fly just on a much smaller scale.

Cheers,

Ian

 

[nickyp0]

in the usa we have two kinds we have brown mantidfly and mantidfly(false mantids). the one in the pic you have showed us is a brown mantidfly(climaciella brunnea). I have herd of them and they are hard to raize and breed since they need a host to lay there eggs in or on.

 

[Mantis Keeper]

Thats a brown mantid fly like was said above. After they mate they find a ground spider that is carrying an eggsack. It will land and insert it's eggs into the eggsack. Just thought that info would help if you plan on starting a colony.

 

[nympho]

mantis-fly are not diptera (flies)

This is their classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Neuroptera (lacewings, antlions)

Family: Mantispidae (mantis flies)

it's a fly... totally different species but a pretty cool example of convergent evolution... (like how a dolphin ended up looking like a shark - even though one's a fish and the other's a mammal)

 

[dakota]

i catch those in my back yard all the timei got some pics but they are blury.

 

[Exotic-Mantis]

Cool, cool. If anyone catches any let me know I might be interested.

Thanks,

Eros

 

[Johnald Chaffinch]

a few good pics of em here:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/4796

 

[Mike]

wow you can catch them in your back yard thats awsome. They look exactly like mantids but they fly thats crazy.. IMO thats better than a mantis i would think it makes them a better predator too?

 

[julian camilo]

some really old photos i found on my hard drive randomly.