Master Gardeners of Ventura County
University of California
Master Gardeners of Ventura County

Posts Tagged: ootheca

It's Green Friday

Today is Black Friday, a day that marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. It's reportedly the busiest shopping day of the year. But to us, today is Green Friday, in recognition of a female green praying mantis,Stagmomantis...

A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, rests on a cactus in Vacaville. She's the last of the season. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, rests on a cactus in Vacaville. She's the last of the season. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A female praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, rests on a cactus in Vacaville. She's the last of the season. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Friday, November 24, 2023 at 2:08 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

Prey Tell, Where Are All the Mantids?

Prey tell, where are all the praying mantids? Last fall, a Stagmomantis limbata deposited her egg case, or ootheca, on an clothespin on our outdoor clothesline. On April 9, the clothespin sprang to life. Hundreds of nymphs emerged,...

A beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, is right at home in the lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, is right at home in the lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, is right at home in the lantana. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Find the praying mantis! In the flood of red and gold lantana blossoms is a gush of green: a beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Find the praying mantis! In the flood of red and gold lantana blossoms is a gush of green: a beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Find the praying mantis! In the flood of red and gold lantana blossoms is a gush of green: a beautiful gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A very gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A very gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A very gravid praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Well, hello there! The praying mantis eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Well, hello there! The praying mantis eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Well, hello there! The praying mantis eyes the photographer. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 5:17 PM
Tags: clothespin (3), lantana (12), ootheca (18), praying mantis (147), Stagmomantis limbata (51)
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

A Quail of a Time

Talk about a quail of a time.... When the ootheca of a praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, hatched April 9 on a clothespin clamped to our clothesline in our yard, all the nymphs scattered. Some crawled up a metallic quail sculpture, the...

Praying mantis nymphs, Stagmomantis limbata, scatter on a metallic quail sculpture near where they hatched the afternoon of April 9 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis nymphs, Stagmomantis limbata, scatter on a metallic quail sculpture near where they hatched the afternoon of April 9 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Praying mantis nymphs, Stagmomantis limbata, scatter on a metallic quail sculpture near where they hatched the afternoon of April 9 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Near nightfall, only a few nymphs remained on the metallic quail sculpture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Near nightfall, only a few nymphs remained on the metallic quail sculpture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Near nightfall, only a few nymphs remained on the metallic quail sculpture. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Friday, April 15, 2022 at 6:20 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Yard & Garden

The Day a Clothespin Sprang to Life

Saturday, April 9 was the day a clothespin sprang to life. Some 200 praying mantis nymphs emerged from an ootheca that Mama Mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) had deposited last summer in our pollinator garden in Vacaville. We first noticed...

This is what the ootheca looked like in mid-March. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is what the ootheca looked like in mid-March. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This is what the ootheca looked like in mid-March. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Saturday, April 9 was
Saturday, April 9 was "Hatch Day." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Saturday, April 9 was "Hatch Day." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Some of the praying mantis nymphs climbed to the top of a metallic quail sculpture on the clothesline, getting a bird's eye view. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Some of the praying mantis nymphs climbed to the top of a metallic quail sculpture on the clothesline, getting a bird's eye view. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Some of the praying mantis nymphs climbed to the top of a metallic quail sculpture on the clothesline, getting a bird's eye view. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Well, howdy there, sibling! What big eyes you have! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Well, howdy there, sibling! What big eyes you have! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Well, howdy there, sibling! What big eyes you have! (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 2:00 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Innovation, Natural Resources, Yard & Garden

Ooh, an Ooth! And on a Clothespin, at That!

No doubt you've seen a praying mantis egg case, or ootheca, on a tree, shrub, fence or post. But have you ever seen one attached to a clothespin on an outdoor clothes line? So here we were Thursday afternoon, hanging freshly laundered dog...

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

An eggcase or ootheca warming on a clothespin in Vacaville, Calif. This is from a Stagmomantis limbata. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

This image of a gravid Stagmomantis limbata, taken last summer in a Vacaville pollinator garden, may have been the mama. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The predator and the prey. A female mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, eyes a honey bee in a pollinator garden in Vacaville last summer. She missed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Posted on Friday, March 25, 2022 at 4:40 PM
Focus Area Tags: Environment, Food, Yard & Garden

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