The French Connection

[TheTranquilEye]

Some of you may have read on another thread that my brother was spending the summer at his house in France. I'd asked him to bring back a mantis if he saw one. I never for a moment expected hime to come up with the goods but he has! This little lady has come all the way to the UK from near Bordeaux.

 

[Coyote]

Nice it must be a mantis religiosa. Too bad i have no mantis living in the wild in my country

 

[TheTranquilEye]

Nice it must be a mantis religiosa. Too bad i have no mantis living in the wild in my country

She is indeed a religiosa. We don't have wild mantids either, more's the pity.

I've found out rather quickly that this one *loves* to fly. She's all over the place!

 

[LAME]

If it flies its male. Females can't fly.  

 

[TheTranquilEye]

If it flies its male. Females can't fly.  

Why do females have wings then? Eh? Eh? 

Anyway, just got in from work and it's official sports fans...he's a male.

So, he's French and my brother's name is Michael so I've named him Michel.

 

[mantiseater]

If it flies its male. Females can't fly.  

Females can fly they just don't commonly

 

[Ranitomeya]

That is a male. Good indicators are the long, thick antennae and the body built for flight. If you look at the end of the abdomen, you can also see that it lacks the ovipositor and instead has a very male end with the claspers. The cerci on males are also longer and thicker than those on females since they serve the function of back-facing antennae that can direct the male's abdomen towards the female's abdomen via chemical cues.

 

[LAME]

[COLOR= rgb(34, 34, 34)]"Most adult praying [/COLOR]mantids[COLOR= rgb(34, 34, 34)] have wings (some species do not). [/COLOR]Females [COLOR= rgb(34, 34, 34)]usually cannot fly [/COLOR][COLOR= rgb(34, 34, 34)]with their wings, but males [/COLOR]can[COLOR= rgb(34, 34, 34)]."[/COLOR]

http://www.keepinginsects.com/praying-mantis/general/

The females usually cannot fly on account of two factors:

1. Their wings are not long enough, take a female S. carolina or budwing for example.  Both have really stubby wings that only reach about half way down their body.

2.Females become far too bulky/heavy in the abdominal region to take prolonged flight.

.... they can sort of long jump, but i believe the females wings are there to help aid in falls (slowing momentum.) to prevent injuries when gravid.

 

[CosbyArt]

Glad to see your brother came though with a mantis for you, congrats.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

The mantis looks like one cool dude.

As for the subject of female mantises flying, I prefer to call their mad skillz in the air, falling slightly slower or falling in style.

 

[TheTranquilEye]

The art of flying, according to the Hitchiker's Guide, is to throw yourself at the ground and miss...