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Project Noah Nature School
Mantis religiosa
Insect, typical green color, 4 walking legs and 2 "praying" arms, two wings, and about 55 mms.
Meadows, flower gardens, throughout eastern U.S. and Ontario.
Despite it's common name, "praying mantis" is used to generalize the mantids as a whole, these cool looking insects come about during the warmer periods to feast on our caterpillars, flys, butterflys, bees, and even moths then mate sometime in autumn. They were accidentally introduced to America while shipping Nursery plants from Europe. It was soon discovered that they had a beneficial impact on our gypsy moth problem, however due in part to their cannibalistic nature their are hardly abundant enough to make any considerable difference.
Spotted on Sep 6, 2011
Submitted on Sep 6, 2011
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