Stagmomantis californica, common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 California Mantis, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of praying mantis in the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Stagmomantis

Stagmomantis

Stagmomantis is a genus consisting of 27 species of mantises in the subfamily Stagmomantinae. This genus is native to the Americas.-Species:*S. amazonica*S. astecus*S. californica*S. carolina*S. centralis*S. colorata...

native to the Western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

.

Description

Adult members of this species range in size from 50-60mm in body length. There are green, yellow, and brown varieties, with males of the species tending to have dark transverse bands on the top of the abdomen. The wings of both sexes are mottled or suffused with dark brown or black and often appear purplish at the base where they attach to the thorax. In all other physical respects they closely resemble other members of their mantid order, two of which are native to the state of California (the other is the slightly smaller and much rarer Stagmomantis carolina).

Habitat

Within California, this common insect occurs throughout the warmer and dryer regions of the southern part of the state below elevations of 10,000 feet. They prefer chaparral

Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

 and desert environments with sufficient vegetation (the creosote bush

Creosote bush

Larrea tridentata is known as Creosote bush as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and as "gobernadora" in Mexico, Spanish for "governess," due to its ability for inhibiting the growth of nearby plants to have more water. In Sonora, it is more commonly called "hediondilla." It is a flowering...

 is a favorite) in which they can climb, hide, and hunt. Their range extends from all of southern California north into the Central Valley and then eastward into Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and western Texas.

Behavior and ecology

Like all mantises, the California mantis is carnivorous, consuming virtually any other insect it perceives as small enough to be eaten, including other members of its own species. Males and females come together to reproduce but otherwise the adults are strictly solitary. Nymphs hatch in the spring from hard egg cases laid the previous fall. Adults do not overwinter-- lifespan is seldom more than one year and usually less than nine months, with females sometimes surviving longer into the winter season than males, presumably allowing the females more time to lay their ootheca

Ootheca

An ootheca is a type of egg mass made by any member of a variety of species .The word is a latinized combination of oo-, meaning "egg", from the Greek word ōon , and theca, meaning a "cover" or "container", from the Greek theke...

s on suitable vegetation or rocks before dying. Though fast runners, both sexes are also capable of using their wings for flight, and the males are especially good flyers: the wings of the male extend well beyond the end of the abdomen, whereas those of the female do not extend more than half this distance. Males are often attracted to bright lights at night and can sometimes be found swarming around them along with other insects. Ambush hunters, though, they fly at night primarily for dispersal, not in search of food.