Marcy Cunkelman found this alien in her yard and she’s happy to see her.

Some praying mantises are native to North America but many of the mantises we see are aliens.  They are so good at eating garden pests that they’re imported for biological pest control.

Mantises are big predators, two inches long. Like raptors the females are larger than the males, but unlike birds mantises make no distinction about the type of bugs they’ll eat.  Cannibalism is part of their repertoire so the males are in real danger when they want to mate.

Their courtship dance is an elaborate evasive maneuver in which the male attempts to distract the female away from eating to mating.  If he’s nimble and alert he can approach the female, mate with her and escape unscathed.  If he isn’t, she eats him.

“Oh well,” she thinks, after swallowing him, “he probably wasn’t worth getting to know better.”

Survival of the fittest indeed!

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

p.s. Click here to see their size difference.  And for more on praying mantises see this blog from October 2008.