Wednesday: 4 October 2006
I didn’t get the required shots necessary to identify this large specimen with confidence but I don’t see the rings on the coxae and am guessing it’s a Carolina Mantid, Stagmomantis carolina. It could still be a Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa or a Chinese Mantid, Tenodera aridifolia. Gosh - three genera, all mantids.
Here’s a first for me:
Just a meter away was this resting Scorpionfly, some kind of Panorpa species. Scorpionflies are neither scorpions nor flies. They’re in their own order, the Mecoptera. (Flies, in the order Diptera, have two wings and short stubby antennae; scorpionflies have four wings and long antennae.)
My Audubon informs me that the adults eat rotting fruit, bird droppings, and dead insects, but despite the biting mouthparts do not bite, and despite the scorpion reference, do not sting. The upward curved abdomenal genitalia give them the scorpionfly name. The larvae consume essentially the same sorts of things. These are basically scavengers.
The right panel just shows the long snout that gives the insect an aardvark-like appearance. This above Bugguide link shows that snout very nicely.
FloridaCracker - email - url
The scorpion fly is a hoot! What face!
Sparkleberry is the star at PF today.
Wednesday: 4 October 2006 @ 06:46:38
Jenn - email - url
I think it cannot be M. religiosa because I was just reading about that species, and they’ve all got that black and white “eyespot” on the inside of the upper part of each foreleg. I don’t see those spots in your photo.
Wednesday: 4 October 2006 @ 09:09:41
robin andrea - email - url
Great pics, Wayne. Cool scorpion fly. You get the best bugs.
Wednesday: 4 October 2006 @ 10:08:52
Laura - email - url
What we don’t know about bugs - wow! These two are new to me, but that’s no surprise. I went to NatureServe, thinking I would find out if they’re abundant here and I just haven’t noticed (quite possible). I’ve used NatureServe a few times to get an idea of plant distributions, and been quite pleased with the results. But for these insects, it was no help at all. Every name I tried turned up “Incomplete distribution data.”
I suppose there’s a bright side to that. My kids don’t need to feel that all the discoveries have already been made. There are still vast unexplored territories right here on this planet.
Wednesday: 4 October 2006 @ 11:46:06
Leslie - email - url
Around here, they’re all “Praying Mantises” whether they really are or not.
Fantastic photos, as usual.
Thursday: 5 October 2006 @ 08:33:34
bev - email - url
Wayne - Great shots of both insects! I don’t know enough about the mantids down your way to know one from the other, but looks different than either the green or brown forms of mantis we get up north.
Thursday: 5 October 2006 @ 15:53:50
Wayne - email - url
Robin - I was pleased to find that scorpionfly. I’d never seen one before.
Laura - it never occurred to me. Do you not have mantids there?
Leslie - I also call them praying mantises, no matter what. I’ve made a conscious effort to start calling them mantids though.
Bev - what are you doing on the internets? Get thee back to your hiking and soup-making! 
It was in response to someone’s mantid that I commented that I hadn’t seen and brown forms, but that’s obviously not the case. In the spring and early summer I only see green. I wonder if they brown as they mature? I’m going with Carolina Mantid.
Friday: 6 October 2006 @ 06:45:40
Wayne - email - url
FC - if I’d known about that aardvark look I’d have tried to get a better pic of it. It’s a hoot indeed.
Jenn - I agree - I saw no coxa rings.
Friday: 6 October 2006 @ 06:47:53
