Mantis Fly

[Ricky Ortiz]

Here is a pic I thought I'd share, One day at Ken The Bug Guys we got a shipment from Africa and one of the tarantulas came in with a egg sac well after letting the egg sac do its thing this little guy came out not what we were expecting but I enjoyed him while he lasted. Not very sure on the species or anythin but I know it loved just killing pin head crickets would not eat them but would make a little mountain of dead pin head bodys lol.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I just love that opalescent quality of their eyes. I've taken photos of these before and none of them have ever come out nearly that nicely:

http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/mantispidae.html

Mantis "flies" are in the order diptera. Mantispids, like these, are neuropterans.

I'm surprised to hear they didn't actually eat the crickets. They go to town on flying bugs that are attracted to the sheet when I'm blacklighting.

 

[sbugir]

Wow, nice pic!

Peter, how can I attract these fellas?

 

[JoeCapricorn]

I once saw a small black mantis on my swimming pool - considering that Mantispids are aquatic as nymphs, it was likely a mantispid.

What are the "mantis flies" of order Diptera? What do they look like?