Praying for a Mantis!

Yesterday I was having a mini-conversation with fellow Blipper Barking, about her fantastic compilation of bugs on the parsley flower, which included a Mantid. She said she loved them and had dozens in her garden. And I thought how nice it would be if I had a few too.

I had noticed on the ever-present echium in the front garden that a little orb spider had set up a net to catch flies, but she's practically impossible to photograph, too far away and always against the light. But I like to keep an eye out, and today, I saw this juvenile mantid (Archimantis latistyla) reaching up, trying to catch her. At least I think that's what it is. He really was quite small, only about 5 cm long I guess. They can easily be double that size.

Boy, he's cute. He was watching the spider very intently, but as soon as he heard me crashing about, his little head swivelled towards me so quickly, and you could almost see his brain ticking over, trying to assess which was more important to him - the danger of me, or the spider for his tea.

I was really sorry I couldn't get any closer to him, and I went back a few minutes later to see if he was still there, but he was gone, leaving the spider to reign supreme. The mantis obviously decided that I was the bigger danger, and he should quit while he was ahead - or while he still had a head.

A bigger Mantis.