Praying mantis eating a wasp

Yesterday, I posted about the dangers geckos pose to a praying mantis that has been living on a spider lily.

Today’s post is about the advantage of that location for the mantis. The primary benefit is that the spider lily’s flowers attract wasps, bees and other insects. In these photos, the mantis has caught a good-sized paper wasp, securely held by its forelegs. It held the wasp in that position for a while, but once it began its meal, it made short work of devouring the wasp. Next day I saw it with a bee and a beetle.

As the spider lily flowers fade, new ones pop up on other stalks, so the insect attraction has been fairly continuous.

12 thoughts on “Praying mantis eating a wasp”

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