Around the end of August this past year, a female mantis moved into our garden. She primarily stuck to the oregano patch, which was lush and had grown out through the wire enclosure around the bed. Mantis identification is a bit tricky, but I’m fairly confident she was a Chinese mantis. Not ideal, as that is an invasive species, but interesting nevertheless.
It became a daily habit to go out and check on her, and see where within the oregano she had moved to, even so far as tolerating the fact that she dined on several butterflies and honeybees over the course of weeks. (That is the issue with invasive species, growing larger, faster, and out-competing native species, while also proving detrimental to native prey – in this case, the very prey species I have been trying to attract to my garden.)
Her reign of terror, such as it was, came to an end in early September. I came out one night to find her in flagrante delicto, having attracted the attention of a male mantis.
The perils of mantis mating are well known, and although there is no guarantee that the female will kill and consume the male post-coitus, there is a very real possibility that she may. I was able to capture a few photos; the mantises ignored me entirely, and the challenge was really the fading evening light, necessitating the use of a stronger flash than I would otherwise prefer. The lack of access, between the growth of oregano itself and the wire fence which the female was clinging to, limited my angles.
Overall, the photos don’t meet my usual standards, but I do find them interesting for what they capture, an interaction that isn’t often witnessed. Nature is both brutal and beautiful.
I suspect that the male survived this encounter, or at least I didn’t find any parts of him the next morning. That was also the last time I saw the female; having mated, she moved on, presumably to find a suitable place to lay her eggs. And she wasn’t alone – the majority of insect visitors I had enjoyed throughout the summer were likewise gone, leaving only a few hardy bees that would persevere until the last blossoms faded. I’ll be curious to see if I find baby mantises in the spring, or if her final travel took her too far afield.