A Winter Praying mantis

Dr. David R. Brooks


On 4 February 2008 my wife Susan found a small mantisfly on her desk. It was about 1.5 cm long, and it could fly quite well. Susan works outside a lot, so we speculated that it hitched a ride inside. However, it seems a little early for them to be hatching outside.

Figure 1. Mantyisfly found inside a Pennsylvania home during winter. Photograph by David R. Brooks.

We left it on a plant leaf, but couldn't find it the next morning, so who knows what's happened to it now. The photo was made with a Canon A530 in macro mode. It was cropped and sharpened in IrfanView, but no other processing was applied.

The photo was made with a Canon A530 in macro mode. It was cropped and sharpened in IrfanView, but no other processing was applied

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