- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Find the praying mantis.
That's not too difficult, considering this Stagmomantis limbata is gravid (pregnant) and about ready to deposit her ootheca (egg case or "ooth") on a nearby twig or branch.
Sandwiched herself between African blue basil and Salvia “hot lips"--where the bees are--she found easy pickings.
According to Bugguide.net: "Females most often fairly plain green (often yellowish abdomen), but sometimes gray, or light brown, with dark spot in middle of tegmina. Tegmina do not completely cover wide abdomen. Hind wings checkered or striped yellow. Blue upper lip more pronounced in females, brighter in green forms and darker in brown forms."
A day after this image was taken, the mantis vanished.
Ooh, there's an ooth out there somewhere.
![Find the praying mantis! This is a female gravid Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Find the praying mantis! This is a female gravid Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/86133.jpg)
![In this 2018 image, a praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, deposits her egg case in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) In this 2018 image, a praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, deposits her egg case in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/86134.jpg)