So here's this praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, tucked beneath a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, in a Vacaville garden.

She's as still as a stone, and you know how still stones are.

Along comes a honey bee, Apis mellifera. She's packing a load of orange pollen. She lands on the blossom and begins foraging.

She does not see the mantis, commonly known as "the European mantis."

The mantis sees her.

What happened?

Well, Ms. Bee continued to forage, oblivious to the predator and the pending danger, and then buzzed away.

Ms. Mantis remained as still as a stone.

And then, she, too, took flight...in the opposite direction.

No prayers answered today--for the mantis. 

A honey bee flies over the head of a male praying mantis, Mantis religiosa, in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

He's a male Mantis religiosa, as slim as a string bean, and scanning his environment.

We're accustomed to seeing see the native Stagmomantis limbata in our garden, and not M. religiosa, the European mantis, which is found throughout Europe, Asia,  Africa, and North America.

"Males are often found to be more active and agile, whereas females are physically more powerful," according to Wikipedia. "Adult females are generally too large and heavy for their wings to enable a take-off...The great variation in the coloration of M. religiosa from different shades of yellow, brown, green, and sometimes black has been the cause of numerous hypotheses and studies for over 100 years.However, no generally accepted answer about reason, benefit, or mechanism of the coloration or the change of coloration has been found."

The male is apparently quite good at avoiding sexual cannibalism during mating.  Wikipedia says: "Instead of just observing them, sexually mature males approach sexually mature females when they see them, but due to the physical superiority of the females, males of M. religiosa face certain challenges in doing so. When a female spots a male, she is very likely to attack and kill him (see also: Sexual cannibalism). Therefore, males can be observed to be very slow and cautious in their approach; after spotting a female, the male usually freezes and turns his head to look directly at her. Since the foveae in his eyes face directly forwards, he has the most accurate and detailed view of her and can watch every one of her moves. He then proceeds to approach her from behind. Males can be observed to stop as soon as the female turns her head or even moves. Mantids are very good at detecting moving structures, but are almost unable to see immobile objects. Using this ‘stop-and-go' tactic, the male stalks closer to the female. This can often take several hours. Depending on the environment, males sometimes show a light ‘rocking'-behavior which is believed to imitate the leaves of surrounding plants to blend in with the background. Males doing this had no higher probability of being detected and attacked, which supports this hypothesis of concealment."

We asked praying mantis scientist Lohit Garikipati about this European species. He holds a bachelor's degree from UC Davis and a master's degree from Towson University, Md., and is now PhD-bound at the Richard Gilder Graduate School in the American Museum of Natural History in the Jessica Ware lab.

"In my time at Davis I observationally did--they hold a special place for me as they were the first species that ever kept and raised in captivity!" said Garikapti, who shared his mantises and expertise at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open houses.  "But they also highlighted to me the potential impact of invasive species on both native mantis species but also prey populations--as low foliage and ground dwelling predators, they have a different niche from S. limbata, and may be contributing to the decline of native Litaneutria (even as they have for the California mantis, Stagmomantis wheelerii). Adult females have also been observed feeding on fence lizards, without much apparent effort as they can take lizards even larger than they are. All of these factors combined with their cryptic ooth (ootheca) deposition and large clutch size have made them one of the most if not the most successful mantis species on the planet - they tolerate both cold and hot climates being found in deserts to temperate forests and now have a Holarctic distribution."

Garikipati related that in the Ware lab, he will be "investigating the evolutionary relationships of praying mantises and what drove their diversity."

We look forward to hearing more from Lohit! As for our buddy, the male M. religiosa, he took flight. (See video on YouTube). 

Those passion flowers (Passiflora) are insect magnets.

One minute you'll see a praying mantis on a blossom. The next minute, a Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae. And the next morning, the blossom is an arthropod magnet--the beginnings of a spider web.

Passiflora is the host plant of the Gulf Fritillary, a spectacular orange butterfly with silver-spangled underwings. The Gulf Frit lays its eggs only on Passiflora.

The Gulf Frits know where the Passiflora is. Their predators know where the butterflies are.

The female mantis, Mantis religiosa (below), didn't snag the butterfly. But it did grab and munch on a  few Gulf Frit caterpillars. 

Ever critter eats in the garden. 

Will a praying mantis eat a caterpillar?

Short answer: Yes.

For several days, we've been watching a resident praying mantis, a female Mantis religiosa, hanging out in our patch of Passiflora (passionflower), the host plant of the Gulf Fritillary butterfly, Agraulis vanillae. 

We grow Passiflora to attract these spectacular orange butterflies with the silver-spangled underwings. They sip nectar, court, mate and lay their eggs.  The eggs hatch into hungry caterpillars and skeletonize our plants, which make us look like  "bad gardeners" but the scenario makes for a "great butterfly habitat."

This year there's no "bad-gardener" look.

The caterpillars haven't skeletonized our plants. 

Then we see Mrs. Religiosa. She does not look gravid, unlike the other mantids in our garden. She is string-bean thin. Praying mantis expert and UC Davis alumnus Lohit Garikipati figures she has already deposited her egg case, or ootheca, and she'll live another month or two.

Last year the Gulf Frits graced us with so many caterpillars that they were the zucchinis of the garden. Too many, too soon. We donated dozens of the 'cats to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, for its open house, and to youngsters engaged in science projects. 

But this year, where are all the caterpillars?

In any pollinator garden, you must expect the pollinators, predators and the prey. Lady beetles and soldier beetles gobble up the butterfly eggs, while birds, spiders and wasps prey on the caterpillars.

We've never seen a praying mantis grab a caterpillar, though. Until now.

Oh, look! A butterfly ballet ever so graceful over the head of string-bean thin Mrs. Religiosa. 

She ignores them. Then she spots a caterpillar. Easy catch, right?

Right.

Yes, a praying mantis will eat a caterpillar.