Stagomantis Californica Female Sizes-Colours

[JPF]

Hello there! I'm new to the forum so thnx! It's the strangest, coolest thing but this summer in Burbank i have never seen so many Mantids! my Raised bed garden is like a Mantis magnet! There are at least two BIG females,one green, one camouflaged with black, purple brownish mottling etc. That will eat flies from tweezers and has a strong pull! And the third is a beige female Chinese Mantis i think my wife released about month ago & it must be at least 3" ! Hoping they don't all scrap! They're of a similar size ! Then last night i found yet another big green female nearby and i then have a juvenile Californica i rescued from the pool & spritzed off the chlorine but it only has one front leg & likes to eat cat food ,hamburger,flies etc. From my tweezers! it can't seem to catch any prey with its one leg..hoping it grows another leg after molt? I wonder if the captive secretes pheromones that other Mantids pick up on ? I suppose its more likely our pesticide free garden is so full of moths,flies, lacewings etc it's a good habitat for all sizes & colors of mantid . I released a hand raised Chinese male after my wife's urging but he was promptly eaten alive

By a deep green female so i'm hoping all these big females can coexist without going 'Battle Royale' and wonder when the males will appear? The ootheca i ordered from Mantis shop still hasn't hatched a month later and its been very ,very hot here! Can females coexist on same patch? Will different species mate? And the sizes of these female Californians are all at least 3+ " think they could tke the alligator lizard at the bottom of the garden ! Cheers from Burbankia-JPF

 

[JPF]

Im sry i posted this ramble twice! It's late, hope you had great Labour Day! Cheers

 

[happy1892]

First picture is a S. limbata. What is the mantis in the second picture?

 

[JPF]

I thought it was a large female Stagomantis Californica? Thank you for your input! These are taken with iPad sry! but ill download camera shots where you can really see size of abdomen

 

[Rick]

Nice to see our wonderful native mantids. Hopefully the non-native Chinese doesn't eat them.

 

[happy1892]

Beige color is a little unusual for Tenodera sinensis, but very common for Mantis religiosa. Are you sure the mantis your wife released was not a Tenodera sinensis? Mantis religiosa is probably more common than T. sinensis in California because there are more spottings of M. religiosa than T. sinensis on Bugguide in California. And I hear about Mantis religiosa from southern California by far more often than T. sinensis being there.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/22947/data

http://bugguide.net/node/view/10098/data

 

[Mantis Man13]

Those are cool mantises

 

[Danny.]

Love S. limbata

 

[happy1892]

Ooh! Large grasshopper. So are S. limbata more aggressive predators than S. carolina? My S. carolina are timid with large prey, especially if the prey gives a lot of struggle.

 

[Danny.]

Ooh! Large grasshopper. So are S. limbata more aggressive predators than S. carolina? My S. carolina are timid with large prey, especially if the prey gives a lot of struggle.

Mine didn't care what size the prey was.

 

[Mantis Man13]

Yeah, my Carolina mantises don't care about size either

 

[dmina]

I want one.. or two..or 20..LOL