Praying Mantis

           This is the first praying mantis that we have seen in the yard since we moved in eleven years ago. This species is one of 2 common in the north, the Chinese mantid- Tenodera aridifolia sinenis, and both northern species are non native. I have seen other mantids locally while walking, but because of the relative paucity of open fields in these  mountains this is not their favorite habitat. Mantids feed on many different insects and mostly sit motionless to ambush any prey that comes near. I recall as a child playing with grasshoppers by throwing them in the air to watch them fly, and saw one disappear into a shrub. When I went over to look I saw a praying mantis eating it like a cob of corn, holding it in its vice like forelegs and taking bites as though it were a sandwich. Mantids are unique insects in that they are able to swivel their heads and gaze directly at a thing, which presumably enables them to better discern their prey without moving their bodies -which might alert prey to their presence. 
      My daughter in law protects mantid egg cases on her shrubbery, where they hatch into hundreds of miniature mantids that then fan out over her garden and hopefully eat harmful insects. That is, the ones that do not eat each other, for they are hungry carnivores from the start and do what it takes to survive.  ( click on pics to enlarge)