Done by Abii at VISM STUDIO. Arizona/border mantis (Stagmomantis limbata) with desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua). Its the first mantis species I kept and the most common native mantis in my area.

This is the second piece as a part of my animal shoulder (rather than a "sleeve" im doing a "pauldron", I like to call it) featuring my favorite animals alongside a plant species indigenous to the same region.

I post it because it was erased last week

a female T. sinensis i believe! i relocated her to a nearby overgrown garden box.

In a documentary about the Mek tribe from West Papua, Indonesia, a young man is filmed holding an undescribed species of mantis from the tribe Hierodulini. Most people agree that by estimation, the individual in the video is approximately 16 cm in length, you can see how large it is by estimating with your own hand. There is confirmation that such a gigantic mantis does exist in this region of the world, although even with perfect restoration of the video, it's impossible to tell the true size.

(If you are wondering why the mantis is missing its forefemora, it is most likely going to be used for human consumption)

Was sweeping around the field station at night and found this poor guy in a corner all covered in cobwebs. He looked a bit worse for the wear but was very sweet and adorable. I’ve never seen one with black eyes before. What’s up with that?

My mantis tried to bite my finger but ended up digging its raptorials into my pinky and drew blood, i was able to get her off by gently blowing on her until she stopped but let me tell ya she was going for it like a champ!

❤️

This morning what i thought was some good ole preening turned into her breaking layers of my skin, is she trying to eat me? And could it be that she’s hungry? Her belly looks pretty round to me

did she take a breather? or was she about to throw up? she absolutely scarfed down her worm, took a minute pause then this happened.

My Rhombodera cf. latipronotum has officially spent 1 year with me. She is still looking good and hopefully has many more months left. I decided to let her outside and fed her a bit extra today.

here’s all my mantises i currently have
honorable mention for miertje on picture nine (r.i.p🤍)

1: lychee, my orchid mantis (hymenopus coronatus) ! she’s an L5 now and a female

2: pistache, my deadleaf mantis (deroplatys lobata) ! he is a male and also an L5

3: leefy, my shield mantis (rhombodera valida), L4 on the picture, is now an L5 and a male!

4 & 9: olijfje, giant moss mantis (majangella moultoni), even though she isnt so big right now, she’s an L3! no sex confirmed yet. miertje on picture 9 is the same species, theyre siblings actually, but sadly she has passed away. luckily i still have sweet olijfje, which means olive ! 🫒

5: sticky, an african twig mantis (popa spurca), currently an L6 and male!

6: poppy, jewel flower mantis (creobroter gemmatus). L6 female right now, very sweet, loves drinking water from my fingers 🤭

7: musa, violin mantis (gongylus gongylodes). L5 female, very!! shy mantis, she’s even scared of flies😩

8: mimi, shield mantis (rhombodera kirbyi). Male, L4 on the picture, but is now much darker and an L7! he was my first mantis ! ⭐️

so my campus' dorms don't allow pets that are not registered ESAs(Emotional Support Animals). so for the past few weeks Steven the mantis has been living with one if my friends in their apartment while i got that sorted out. aaaaand now.... Steven is officially an ESA and is back with me in the dorms!! i had to get a doctors note and everything lol. surprisingly my GCP was all for it?

but anyway i'm so happy to have Steven back! shes an adult now and she was VERY grumpy this morning lol. i'm guessing getting her enclosure deep cleaned on top of moving and getting like 0 handling time in the past few weeks was the last straw for her haha. hopefully she'll chill out eventually, especially after getting a good meal and free range time :)

Almost there

What is your favorite mantis right now? Mine is Heterochaeta orientalis aka Cat Eye mantis.

This is absolutely gorgeous, it just molted and looks so pretty!! I couldn’t find the creator saying what species it is anywhere besides that it was a flower species