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Wasp Mantidfly

Climaciella brunnea

Description:

a rather unusual insect. Although they have grasping mantid-like raptorial front legs they are not closely related to mantids (praying mantises). Mantispids are in the order Neuroptera, and thus more closely related to the green lacewings that come to porch lights in the summer than to mantids. Their front legs are used in the same way as a mantid's, however, in catching small insect prey for food.

Notes:

brunnea has a very interesting life cycle. During their 3-4 week adult life stage, inch-long females may lay as many as several thousand short-stalked eggs, grouped on the underside of plant leaves. The eggs hatch and each tiny larva waits for a passing spider. The larva then boards the spider and rides around on it until the spider lays eggs. At this time the tiny mantispid larva crawls off the spider and into the egg sac, where it feeds on the spider eggs in the security of the silken spider egg sac. Different species of mantispids specialize on different species of host spiders. C. brunnea larvae are known to parasitize the eggs of wolf spiders.

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56 Comments (1–25)

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

Thanks Jennifer

JenniferRoge
JenniferRoge 10 years ago

Beautiful

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

Thanks: rams, blogman, James and headphones boss. James yes it does :)

The headphones boss
The headphones boss 10 years ago

cool really sweet

JamesHart
JamesHart 10 years ago

Looks like a mantis

blogman5000
blogman5000 10 years ago

AWESOME!

rams4d
rams4d 10 years ago

Incredible, Amazing, Impressive, Congratulations !!!

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

Thank you Diaz, Alice and Emily

EmilyMarino
EmilyMarino 10 years ago

This is absolutely amazing!!! So incredible!

alicelongmartin
alicelongmartin 10 years ago

Super Cool!

Diaz José Miguel
Diaz José Miguel 10 years ago

Increible!

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

I am blown away by all the nice compliments...Thanks everyone!

Saumya Wanniarachchi
Saumya Wanniarachchi 10 years ago

Congratulations RickBohler wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) such an interesting series !

cheryl v2.0
cheryl v2.0 10 years ago

Wow it really does look just like a wasp, that's crazy! Great shots!!! :)

Carol Snow Milne
Carol Snow Milne 10 years ago

I never knew such an amazing insect existed. WOW! Great series of photos! Congratulations on SOTD. Much-deserved. I am very impressed.

Bhagya Herath
Bhagya Herath 10 years ago

wow!!!! Congratulations RickBohler this is really amazing great spotting....

vivianpoma
vivianpoma 10 years ago

congrats, nice shot!!!

Maria dB
Maria dB 10 years ago

Congratulations - thanks for sharing this!

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

Thanks Rieko, I was like a kid who just found a box of candy. I really thaught it was a wasp at first. I did not move the same as a wasp.

RiekoS
RiekoS 10 years ago

Amazing!! Congratulations. I have never seen this before, so thank you very much for sharing this.

RickBohler
RickBohler 10 years ago

What a awesome surprise to wake up to. thanks everyone for all the nice compliments. This really made my day :)

Sachin Zaveri
Sachin Zaveri 10 years ago

Congratulations Rick Bohler !!

surekha
surekha 10 years ago

Congratulations!!

Congratulations Rick on this SOTD! Beautiful capture and very informative writeup.

NuwanChathuranga
NuwanChathuranga 10 years ago

Congratulations !!

RickBohler
Spotted by
RickBohler

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Spotted on Sep 1, 2013
Submitted on Sep 1, 2013

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