Giant Asian Mantis

Description:

Mantidae; Mantinae; Paramantini; Hierodula; Hierodula sp. I have had this one in my collection of Mantis photos for seven years. At the time I took these pictures, I marked it down in my notes as Hierodula patellifera, but that was a wrong identification. The problem I have now is that there are several Hierodula spp. in Philippines and I can't find find pictures for many of them. So it is safer to go with Hierodula sp. If a matching picture appears on the web, I think that the dark patch which can be seen on the inside of its foreleg (in my 2nd and 4th photos) will help to confirm the ID.

Habitat:

Spotted in our front yard climbing on plants in a flowerbed.