Menagerie Monday: My, My, More Mantises!

Back on April 3, I was adjusting the ropes on a swing that I’ve made for the grandkids in our front garden and needed to set up the ladder to do so. Its resting place is leaning against the house, and when I had it in place and climbed toward the top, I saw a small brown mantis nymph on the next-to-top step. I offered it a ride in my hand, which it accepted readily enough, and I transferred it to the likely-more-fruitful hunting ground of our jade plant (Crassula ovata). I fetched the camera and the tripod and, as I was happily starting my session, one tripod leg brushed a lower branch, and another mantis—a green nymph easily twice the size of the first—dropped to the deck. I helped it back into the upper branches and spent the next half hour dividing my attention between the two of them. Both were the members of the African immigrant variety (Miomantis caffra), which competes (very successfully) with the native one, but not yet to the extent that the latter is officially considered endangered. I will say, however, that I find mantises fairly regularly, but it has been quite some time since I’ve seen a native. Frankly, I am concerned but, until the guidelines change, I’ll remain content to observe and report. (Click a pic to enlarge.)