The Mantids of Xanadu

[Confuzzius]

These are a few of the species I've come across in my back yard (I'm no expert so I hope the IDs are correct):

Cilnia Humeralis.... "Cilly"....... She was with us for over 8 months.



She lived on this Citrus tree for 8 months, feasting on the lice (and the ants that farms them). The tree grew 30cm (1ft) in this time, whereas it only did about 7cm without her presence.



A nocturnal visitor: Giant African? Sphodromantis? (Male, I think). Idiot went after the lights like a stupid moth..... .

Managed to catch him and throw him out in the dark.



Maybe one of Cilly's babies - never to be seen again (though she was still there).



Our last visitor for the summer: Ghost, (Phyllocrania paradoxa I believe). Happy to take live prey (moth) from my fingers. Left (him?) wild. Gone two days later.



Then earlier this week..... Ooths all over the place (I found 4 of them).

These (presumably Cilnia) all died shortly after. Looks like their limbs got stuck in the ooth. Rest of their mates gone



Now, I am interested in breeding these buggers, to release in the area, maybe keep a few on my fruit trees for pest control?

 

[Mantis Lady]

So many mantids in your garden? cool

 

[MantisGirl13]

Wow! So cool!!! That ghost mantis is a beautiful female. 

- MantisGirl13 

 

[hysteresis]

I cannot imagine padding into the back yard and seeing a ghost in a bush, a cilnia in a tree.

Just WOW!

 

[Confuzzius]

Not to mention the Stick Insects (twice), Scorpions (two different species), Porcupine (a few nights per month), Tortoise (about once a week), Flap-neck Chameleons (three separate occasions), Mozamique Spitting Cobra (twice), Green Bush Snake (once), Nyala (every day), Duiker (several times a week), Waterbuck (occasional), Impala (like cannon-fodder).

We are truly blessed to live in an environment like this. Thats why we crazy Afrikaners stick around in SA..........  

Not sure about protocol, but I've been logging these on iNaturalist if you want to check them out. (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/confuzzius)

 

[MantisGirl13]

Wow. I'm envious! It must be amazing to see so many animals in their natural habitat. 

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Mantis Man13]

Whats SA stand for? South Africa?

 

[MrGhostMantis]

Yes.

 

[Confuzzius]

Whats SA stand for? South Africa?

Correct.

 

[Confuzzius]

OK, so about time for an update. After my last post, I decided to trim the Lavender bush that I found the Ghost in previously (it was getting out of hand). But because of the discussion here, I thought to just have a more detailed look in case there are more.

Look at the results! Blown away......

The infamous Lavender Bush

 

The new "Cilly" or so I thought...... Called her "Greenie" later. Moved her to the Citrus tree.



Then this guy shows up.......... much smaller, green-grey male but also cilnia.



And then, staring at his brother.......... another cilnia male, but more grey.



And another Female! I called her "the Lavender Queen" and placed her back on the Lavender bush after trimming.



Another brother (probably from the same mother). This one Khaki. Interesting that all three of them are different colours - I didn't know they could do this!



Female no 3 "Brownie". I placed her in the Potato Bush next to the Lavender.



Female no 4 ("Camo"): Placed her in the Potato Bush as well, but on the other side. Hopefully far enough apart from Brownie.

 

And then there was this guy/gal.......... Not sure of his/her species, but not a cilnia I think - probably a juvenile giant african?...... Placed him in the field behind the fence.



In all I collected 11 Cilnias prior to and while cutting the bush (very carefully). 4 x Females, 6 x Males. And one of the above.

I hope I got them all.

 

[Confuzzius]

OK, so I found the first 6 guys (Greenie, the Lavender Queen, and four males) all on the 3rd of May and decided to postpone the trimming for a week.

Placed Greenie and two of the males on the citrus tree. 

 

A month later, Greenie is still there. I observe her for a few minutes every day and have found the area she favours. There is no sign of the two males. Not sure if she got them or maybe one of the spiders also living there....



She is perfectly colour-matched to the citrus leaves and seems to be happy where she is.

 

[Confuzzius]

Last update. The two males I left in the (trimmed) lavender bush are still around (despite the presence of a few large spiders and the Lavender Queen).

Found them both this morning again.

However, I last spotted the Lavender Queen herself on the 19th of May while she was feasting on a wasp-like critter. Hope she is OK and only moved on.....

 

[Mantis Man13]

Thats a really awesome mantis collection!

 

[Mantis Man13]

What is Xanadu? I haven’t been able to find anywhere on the web if it’s a city or what.

 

[MantisGirl13]

That's really awesome!

- MantisGirl13 

 

[Confuzzius]

What is Xanadu? I haven’t been able to find anywhere on the web if it’s a city or what.

Xanadu is where I live. It is an Eco Park (or Nature Estate) located at Hartbeespoort Dam in South Africa.

Check out https://www.xanadu.co.za/ and on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/R1aE7rTBBMgVy2xM8

 

[Mantis Man13]

[No message]

 

[Mantis Man13]

What was the mantis size in this photo I just copied and pasted previously from your photo collection? It is in my previous message above this is it showing up on the post?

 

[Confuzzius]

What was the mantis size in this photo I just copied and pasted previously from your photo collection? It is in my previous message above this is it showing up on the post?

Sorry, no photo showing up in the post. Can tell you the females were all about the same size i.e. 3-4cm head to tail. The males were all about 1-1,5cm head to tail. The odd one out was the one I suspect to be a giant african which was about 5cm head to tail.