- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Human: "It's the end of Daylight Savings Time!"
Praying Mantis: "The end of Daylight Savings Time? Does that mean I have to stop scaring the livin' daylights out of a bee?"
Human: "No, it's when we humans set the clocks forward by one hour in the spring, and then in the fall, we set the clocks back an hour."
Praying Mantis: "So if I catch a bee today at 4 p.m., it's actually 5 p.m."
Human: "Correct."
Praying Mantis: "And if I eat the bee at 4:05, it's actually 5:05 p.m."
Human: "Correct!"
Praying Mantis: "And if I catch another bee at 5:30 p.m., it's actually 6:30 p.m.?"
Human: "Correct again! Go to the head of the class!"
Praying Mantis: "Why do you humans have Daylight Savings Time?"
Human: "To get more daylight in the spring. Did you know that New Zealand entomologist George Hudson first proposed modern Daylight Savings Time, so that after his work shift, he could get more daylight to collect insects?"
Praying Mantis: "He wanted to collect ME?"
Human: "Yes, and other insects. He won the Hector Memorial Medal in 1923 for proposing Daylight Savings Time."
Praying Mantis: "But still, why would I want to get up an hour earlier in the spring? Honey bees don't leave their colony to forage until it's around 55 degrees."
Human: "Haven't you heard? Early to bed and early to rise makes a MANTIS healthy, wealthy and wise!"
Praying Mantis: "Go away before I mistake you for a bee."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Scenario: A female praying mantis, a Stagmomantis limbata, is perched on a daphne.
Pho-tog: "Good morning, Ms. Mantis! How are you today? Hope you're not thinking about catching a bee for breakfast!"
Ms. Mantis: "Oh, no! I would never think of catching a bee! I'm...ahem...allergic to bees. Yes, that's it. I'm ALLERGIC to bees. I'm just...ahem...doing my morning exercises. Gotta stay in shape."
Pho-tog: "Bend and stretch, right? Bend and stretch? No honey bees on the menu?
Ms. Mantis: "Oh, yes, bend and stretch. My morning exercises! No bees on the menu!" (Then she spots a bee below)
Pho-tog: "Hey, wait, why are dropping down in the daphne?"
Ms. Mantis: "Gotta go do my floor exercises now! Yes, that's it. My floor exercises."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Often it's so camouflaged that it totally blends in with its habitat. It can rotate its head 180 degrees--and nothing, it seems, can escape its view.
Praying mantises are not considered biological pest control agents because basically they'll eat anything they can catch: from your favorite pollinators (bees and butterflies) to your favorite beneficial insects (lady beetles and assassin bugs), your favorite bird (hummingbird) to pests (stink bugs and lygus bugs) to syrphid flies, green bottle flies, and wandering caterpillars that happen to cross its path.
And they'll eat one another...catch me if you can!
Truly, they are not picky eaters like little humans who scowl at a food, push it around their plates, or "accidentally" drop it on the floor for the dog to grab.
"Over 2,000 mantid species occur in the world, mostly in tropical and subtropical regions," according to the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Program (UC IPM). "At least 9 mantid species occur in California. The Arizona or bordered mantid (Stagmomantis limbata), Bistanta mexicana, California mantid (Stagmomantis wheeleri =S. californica), Litaneutria ocularis =Litaneutria obscura, and small gray mantid (Litaneutria pacifica) are native species. Chinese mantid (Tenodera sinensis), European mantid (Mantis religiosa), Mediterranean mantid (Iris oratoria), and South African mantid (Miomantis caffra) are introduced."
"Mantids (mantises) are among the largest insects," UC IPM says. "Adults generally range from 2 to 5 inches (5–12 cm) long. Adults and nymphs (immatures) are elongate and usually brown, green, or yellowish; a single species can have all 3 color phases, such as the California mantid, Stagmomantis wheeleri =S. californica."
A mantis has two spiked forelegs that enable it to grasp and subdue its prey. It's a death grip...or a dinner grip...Ever seen a praying mantis "cradle" its prey?
This mantis, below, is a Stagmomantis limbata. Dinner was a bee. Earlier it preyed on a green bottle fly.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The scenario: a male praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, is perched on a pink zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden filled with bees and butterflies.
Praying Mantis: "Hey, photographer, take my picture! And, can you make me look like Arnold Schwarzenegger?"
Photographer: "Sure, Mr. Mantis. I can take your picture, but you'll never pass for Arnold. You don't look like a bodybuilder."
Praying Mantis: "Well, at least I can look like an action figure."
Photographer: "Okay. A full body shot...Head, thorax and abdomen. But don't go looking for the ladies! You might lose your head."
Praying Mantis: "No problem. I just want to strike some poses. I'm an action figure."
Photographer: "And no action moves. Don't go looking for a bee while I'm taking your photo! Got that?"
Praying Mantis: "Got it." (And gets a bee) "Sorry, I was hungry."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
- Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator, wore a green mantis costume to greet guests and show them the Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects in the live petting zoo
- Guest Kevin Murakoshi of Davis (UC Davis alumnus) gifted the museum with intricate origami mantises that he crafted from "mantis green" paper--one sheet per mantis.
- Guest Ian Alexander Levin of Sacramento displayed his enlarged images of mantises, including one of a mantis eating a bee that drew "oohs" and "aahs."
- Skylar Primavera, who studied praying mantises while attending UC San Barbara (bachelor's degree in biology, 2020) displayed a live mantis as well as life-cycle models (ootheca to the adult), and answered questions about the predatory insect.
- Sol Wantz, UC Davis entomology senior and president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, displayed a European mantis that she borrowed from a UC Davis garden
Guests viewed display drawers of both native and non-native mantises. At least 9 species of mantises in California, according to one display.
Five are native:
- The Arizona or bordered mantid (Stagmomantis limbata)
- Bistanta mexicana
- California mantid (Stagmomantis wheeleri=S. californica)
- Litaneutria ocularis=Litaneutria obscura
- Small gray mantid (Litaneutria pacfica)
Four are introduced:
- Chinese mantid (Tenodera sinensis)
- European mantid (Mantis religiosa)
- Mediterranean mantid (Iris oratoria)
- South African mantid (Miomantis caffra)
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live petting zoo and an insect-themed gift shop. The insect museum was founded in 1946 by Professor Richard Bohart of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology).
(Editor's Note: Tomorrow's Bug Squad blog will feature the creative kids and the creative staffer at the family arts-and-crafts activity.)