The last time we encountered a praying mantis it was waiting for prey on a plant by the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.
Then we saw two more that day in front of the Laidlaw facility. They jumped on us while we were watching the first one.
Surely we didn't look like prey!
Staff research associate/beekeeper Elizabeth Frost tends the garden in front and notices many of the stealthy little critters. They're perfectly camouflaged and ready to pounce.
The egg cases she earlier saw have hatched. One little, two little, three little mantids....
And probably many more.
They stay because the area is a good source of food--honey bees, sweat bees, butterflies, hover flies...
Those praying mantids grab unsuspecting--and sometimes quite slow--prey in their spiked forelegs and it's off with the head. Fast food it is. Fast food in the slow food movement....
Attached Images:
Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology peers at a praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Praying mantis climbs on the back of Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)