Need I.D. Please

[inuyasha78]

Found this mantis at work while I was working on a car. It is really small about the size of one of those yellow wasps. Never thought I would find one of this in Chicago,Illinois. all I see are Chinese mantis, Tenodera Sinesis.

 

[MandellaMandy123]

That's definitely not a mantid. It's a mantidfly! You are super lucky to have found one of these. I'm not sure how to care for them - try treating it like a real mantid.

 

[mkayum]

Oh my! I live a few hours away from you. maybe I should go out looking for these!

 

[Rick]

Not a mantis as was mentioned.

 

[brancsikia339]

mantidfly

 

[massaman]

they are not the same species as a mantis and they lay eggs on spiders

 

[happy1892]

they are not the same species as a mantis and they lay eggs on spiders

Mantii are in the order Mantodea so I would say not a mantis but I guess that is fine. I have read that they lay their eggs not on a spider and when the babys hatch they need to find a spider's egg case soon so they can eat and many die trying to find a spider's egg case.

 

[inuyasha78]

Oh my! I live a few hours away from you. maybe I should go out looking for these!

The car I was working on was from highland park I work in evanston, il. in case you want to go hunting, good luck.

 

[inuyasha78]

That's definitely not a mantid. It's a mantidfly! You are super lucky to have found one of these. I'm not sure how to care for them - try treating it like a real mantid.

I guess I am it's eating fruit flies and doing fine.

 

[CoolMantid]

You are so lucky. They dont live long in captivity so enjoy him while you can. The larvae eat spider eggs in the spider egg sack. The adults eat baby spiders (I guess fruit flies)

 

[eyes]

Mantispidae?

 

[happy1892]

Mantispidae?

Yes.

 

[Mime454]

These are really cool because they're not really related very closely to Mantids. It's an awesome example of convergent Evolution. I've only found one of these, it looked like a wasp in color and segmentation. It was really cool to observe for a few days.

Does anyone have a picture of the larvae?