#Stagmomantis carolina

[celestialmacros]

The darkest brown Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) I've ever seen.

August 18, 2024

Southeastern Pennsylvania

[xylocopavirginica]

check out this little cutie i met last night 💕 he’s a male Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina :) i always get excited to find one of these since usually i only find the larger nonnative Chinese mantises here in NC!

[harleycrittercorner]

Grabbed some herbs for my mom and when I withdrew my hand I had a friend on it

Carolina Mantis

[jack-of-all-inverts]

Nike

Stagmomantis carolina

Carolina Mantis - Adult Female

Chaperone of a new Era in my life.

Rest in peace, my Winged Victory. 🕊

[calochortus]

Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) by Trey Wardlaw

[snaileyesnatureblog]

Stagmomantis carolina (Carolina Mantis)

The carolina mantis can be found in the Americas from the United States to Brazil. Females are around 47-60mm while males are are 54mm. The carolina mantis is a carnivore, and feeds on bees, butterflies, other insects, and even members of the same species, as these bugs perform sexual cannibalism.

The Carolina Mantis has a unique feature to better camouflage with their environment. As they grow, at time of molt, they are able to adjust their color from green to gray to brown. They are able to do this at every molt until the final molt I nto adulthood.

[kremro]

Put Up Your Dukes (Carolia mantid: Stagmomantis carolina) by AARON ("Ronny") Rentz Via Flickr: This little guy was so much fun to shoot. We spent about 1 1/2 hours "playing" with him. I swear, you would have thought he was posing for us. At times he looked like he was actually smiling. He took on the role of boxer, orchestra director and just plain old model. He was relocated to a much better place than he was found. Our only disappointment was we couldn't keep him as a pet. We also worried a little about where we set him free- in the middle of a patch of four-o'clocks . Problem with that was hummingbirds frequent the flowers and we read that these little guy had been known to snare hummers.

[herpsandbirds]

Can you please ID this beautiful mantis from central virginia? Thank you i love this blog

Mantis ID – VA, USA:

Hello, yes this looks like Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina, family Mantidae. 

[crevicedwelling]

behold

(Stagmomantis carolina)

[onenicebugperday]

@plushcarcharias submitted: Hi, could I get an ID for this lovely lady (I assume)? No ID needed for the cat. Found in [removed] [please redact]

I identify this cat as a cute little friend!!! Glad they weren’t able to eat the mantis woman, though. She is indeed a female - in the genus Stagmomantis, so either a Carolina mantis or an Arizona mantis - both are found in your area and tbh I have a hard time telling them apart!

[celestialmacros]

Initially I thought these were the same species. They were photographed in a meadow where I have often photographed our native mantids. But it turns out the bottom photo is of a species I'd never found before, though I knew we had them in the area. The wing length should have tipped me off.

Top: Carolina Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) photographed September 21, 2023

Below: European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) photographed October 2, 2023

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Tinicum, Pennsylvania

[opossumprints]

Molting

Tw! mentions of bugs, bullying, and potential mentions of imposter syndrome

The Carolina praying mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) is one of the two most common mantids found in the state of Virginia. The insect is typically brown in color, mimicking the color and general markings of a dead leaf. It is an interesting insect because it can change its appearance to match its environment every molt until it reaches adulthood (when they cease molting). 

Steve feels like that sometimes. Like he changes to fit in with people around him and now that he has shed them he’s stuck being the version of himself that he hates most. The ugly, alone, version that is tucked in the back of his empty science classroom crying over a bug. More technically speaking, crying over the book on bugs that he checked out of the school library. He shuts the book. He can’t afford to replace it, if it ends up tear-stained. 

He was supposed to be finishing up a report for class, he had only written the one paragraph. Came in during lunch and everything. But now instead of writing about the bug he was randomly assigned and their importance in their ecosystem, he's just feeling miserable. 

Maybe he's not being honest with himself. He was never going to work on the bug thing, he was just trying to hide. 

“Heeeeyyyy! Anyone in here?” 

Steve knows that voice, knows the face that will greet him if he lifts his head (which he absolutely cannot do, his face is streaked with tears and he’d like to keep some of his dignity thank you very much). 

Eddie Munson is a year or so older than Steve and looks every bit like the junkyard dogs Steve used to see prowling around outside before his dad remarried. Those dogs were mean-looking things, big and dangerous, armored with black leather and metal spikes, and right now Eddie was no different. Steve has heard him barking venomous speeches about the shittiness of high school and jocks and such, what would he say if he found one crying over nothing? 

Maybe now that Steve has dropped that last and final fake skin, now that he's given up on pretending to be anyone, Maybe now he’ll be left alone.

“Harrington? What the fuck are you doing here?” 

Or maybe not 

Steve looks up through his bangs, still trying to keep his face from view. Munson is by the doorway with a puzzled, kinda grossed-out look on his face. Like he can't decide if it's confusing or nauseating that Steve is anywhere near him. Steve gets that, would feel gross if he was in close proximity of anyone who had been acting the way Steve had been recently.

“I'm doing my assignment for Spencer’s class” Steve croaks “The bug one?” 

Now Munson just looks confused, possibly a bit shocked but what does that matter?

His pretty eyebrows are knit together and his mouth tugs down into a frown…or a sneer? Steve has never been that good with facial expressions.  

“No, you haven't” Munson speaks up ” You've been crying”.

“I could be doing both.” Steve mumbles. He's not sure why he's pushing back. Munson had obviously already seen the tears and they both could see the scattered, empty, pages that were strewn across the table. He had not been doing both.

Munson is shuffling into the classroom now; approaching as if he's trying not to startle a cat. Steve watches him carefully—knows to watch carefully—if Eddie makes one too fast move, Steve is out of there. 

Right now, Munson doesn't seem the type to try and jump Steve, especially because he is very vocal about hating bullies, but Steve will never rule it out after what happened with Jonathan.  Steve used to be smarter, before rich stepmom’s and asshole fake friends,  he used to be more wary of the signs of a beating. If Jon could surprise him, so could Munson.

Steve didn't look away from the approaching man, but he was still somewhat startled by how close he managed to get. Apparently, close enough to press warm and calloused fingertips under Steve’s chin. It feels nice. Feels even nicer when they slide further up his jaw to cradle his face. 

Eddie makes a soft cooing noise as Steve melts into his hold. He feels like he could purr, and wants to be held like this forever.

Eddie taps his face, gets his attention, and waits till Steve finally looks back too him.

“What’s the matter, sweet thing?” Eddie asks “Why are you crying?”.

“ I don’t like who I am anymore” Steve croaks. Eddie coos again, moves around the table to pull Steve against his chest. “ I wanna be who I used to be but I can't no more.” 

“Why not?” Eddie presses. Steve had pressed his face to Eddie’s Stomach, didn't want to look up, so his answer came out mumbled.

“Gotta be who everyone else wants.”

Eddie hums, rumbles all the way through his chest. Steve loves it.

“How ‘bout we do something about that Stevie?” There are fingers running through Steve’s hair now. The deft fingers that had pulled away when Steve was pulled in, thankfully returned. “ We could go to my van? I have blankets in the back, and probably some snacks too. We can talk?” he implores.

“Sounds nice…” it really does “I missed you Eds” 

There is a chuckle, deeper, more rumbly, than the one Steve remembers. It sounds more like a summer thunderstorm instead of birdsong. It reminds Steve of his last happy chunk of childhood. Brings back memories of summers with his best friends, of two childhood sweethearts and their pseudo brothers racing along the railroad tracks tucked away and quiet.   

“I missed you too Stevie”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, a while back when The Stranger Things play came out there was a poster for a dog groomer owned by the Harringtons and there seems to be absolutely no mention of this seemingly super influential family outside of Steve so I wanted to play around with it. In this universe Steve grows up poor, his dad owns the Junkyard that appears abandoned in season 2, and his mom makes some extra cash on the side grooming dogs.

Steve, Eddie, and the Byers boys grow up as close friends who play in the woods together (that's why Steve knows the railroad tracks lead to the Junkyard), But Steve's dad remarries a rich, young, woman and he is forced to leave his friends.

Right now it can kind of be read as omegaverse but it's very subtle and ambiguous. if people want me to continue the story further I might make it omegaverse because I'm a sucker for Eddie and Steve being scent-mates that get separated during childhood, but I know omegaverse is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea

[jack-of-all-inverts]

Nike Moment

Art by divbits

[crawlingkind]

hello! this is Chester! we're pretty sure he's some sort of ground mantis, do you know what exactly he is? located in northern Indiana, USA!

Chester is a lovely female Stagmomantis carolina, Carolina mantis. ground mantises do not occur in Indiana, and this is in fact the only native species there, with the other three being invasive from Asia & Europe

[tigersorange]

trying to get into grad school to study the effects of invasive mantises on stagmomantis carolina. me when i join the other two ppl studying mantises rn LOL

[anarchywoofwoof]

What's your favorite bug?

oh boy i love this ask, thank you so much.

here's a confession: up until late adulthood, i had a pretty severe phobia of most bugs. i'm much calmer about them now, but i still get freaked out if something jumps, flies or moves too quick. i actually blame my mom for this (surprise). she has an insane bug phobia and there were incidents as a kid where she freaked out and thus, freaked me out.

anyway, that long preamble aside. if we're including beetles in this discussion, then Photinus pyralis or the common eastern firefly (aka lightning bug) is probably my favorite.

some of my best memories as a kid were catching and releasing lightning bugs. i highly resented the fellow homeschooled kids who lived down the street who ripped their abdomens off and wanted to commit acts of unspeakable violence against their homestead. granted, i was not a perfect kid. but i didn't torture bugs or animals.

honorable mentions for favorite bug include:

Apis mellifera (Western Honey Bee)

Melanoplus differentialis (Differential grasshopper)

Stagmomantis carolina (Carolina Mantis)

Apantesis vittata (Banded Tiger Moth)

Harrisina americana (Grapeleaf Skeletonizer)