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Mantis religiosa
I think this is a European.
Do you have any other views of this beautiful Mantis?
The color and shape are consistent with Mantis religiosa as you suspected. I believe that is what you have here.
Sphodromantis viridis is not known to occur in North America so I think it is unlikely.
There are also some physical differences between the two species:
Sphodromantis viridis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mantis...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...