It's so nice to be able to stroll through the arboretum in the evening. There's hardly anybody there, the heat of the day is starting to dissipate, and the sun is low, making for some illuminating views of the plants.





This desert plant, in a color scheme of dull green and creamy white, has had a young mantid living in it for the last several weeks.

His coloring matches the creamy stuff.



Then there are these weedy, stalky plants with pinkish flower-heads. The plants attract a wide variety of bugs, which also make them good for finding mantids. (Update, 9-15-08: I have now been informed that these plants are called Marsh-Fleabane Pluchea odorata.)



The other night, I found 2 sub-adult female iris oratoria, who had apparently also found eachother. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will be able to make out the pale blue-ish one, highlighted in a circle to the left, and a second, greener one to the right. They are both in threat display postures.



Here's the green one. (Fuzzy due to low light conditions)



The blue girl.


She says, "I'm this big ... you'd better not mess with me!"

I gave her a little "goose" to make her jump onto another branch, hopefully far enough away from her rival.



Have I ever mentioned how bummed I am sometimes when I discover that one of my favorite bug-finding shrubs has been ravaged by well-meaning garden staffers? As I was inspecting this heavily pruned bush, I saw another mantis.



This one was an adult female Stagmomantis Californicus, the first I've seen at the arboretum in quite a while. Whether she had been dwelling in the previously leafy branches or had just arrived to blend in with the stubby sticks, I can't be sure.

Wil Wheaton likes mantids.

An inconsequential factiod I just found out while wasting time online. But it still tickles me to find that other people like them, too. I mean, besides "bug people". "Regular people". Even, apparently, famous people. Cool.

Well, my computer and I have barely been on speaking terms lately, and I would love to post a picture here of a really cool mantis, but something's not cooperating in my little space-time continuum. So just click this link for a whole set of digitally altered and really neat mantid photos on respi78's Flickr.

Thanks, Andy!

Warning: Porno


Uh, sort of.

It's GREEN PORNO.

"Isabella Rossellini brings us a bizarre and hilarious look at sex in the natural world in this series of all new shorts."

There are 8 different bug sex scenarios, including a praying mantis, in which Rossellini plays the male.

From the Sundance Channel. Click here to view online.
The videos played rather choppy on my computer at first, but in replaying were normal.

Flickr is my favorite place to find images of just about anything, anywhere. I've found some incredible little mantid sculptures made with painstaking care by Geoffery Haberman.






These exquisitely deltailed bugs look like they're ready to scramble up the nearest plant (or up the drapes, if you're like me!) and catch a fly. You really should see his entire Metal Insects photoset on Flickr.

Dream Mantis by M. C. Escher, 1935

Recently, I came across the picture above by famous artist M. C. Escher. I think this may be my poster. A quick peek at eBay found the same image as a blacklight poster.

I'm not going to buy the poster. It's enough that I've been able to identify it after all these years.

Mantids by Charley Parker

I had read about Charley Parker on other peoples' blogs here and here. I'm sure I'd seen his work before that, but I just didn't know who he was. He did so many images of animals, birds and bugs, I thought I would see if he ever did a mantis. Sure enough he did:

Update: 3-24-08
Secretsnottysis has given me permission to post this picture of her 2 mantis tattoos.

Here's a dollar put to creative use.

One Dollar Praying Mantis by *orudorumagi11 on deviantART

I usually avoid going to the mall, but last week my neighbor took me out to lunch there, and we detoured into a little store I had never heard of before, called Hand and Mind. Apparently it's a chain of "upscale decorative arts and crafts boutiques".


Anyway, I spotted this colorful little metal mantis, uh, thing. It's so cutesy and cartoony as to not be very mantis-like, yet still recognizable. Too pricey to actually buy, but worth a stealthy snapshot or two.


For a mantis, (and yes it's labeled as such,) it's got a froggy little face.