Juvenile Praying Mantis - Colour depends on age and environment, not sex.

Left:  Praying mantis photos from Oregon (top) and Florida (bottom).  Right:  Kelowna (my yard).

My favourite insect is the praying mantis.  As a boy, I caught dozens of them in Ontario.  I never saw any while living in the Lower Mainland, but did manage to get photos of them in Oregon and Florida (insets).  Since we have been living in Kelowna, I have caught three or four, one just a few days ago (right image, taken with iPhone 15 Pro).  I haven't seen them for a while, not since our cold snap a few years back that killed the stone fruit for the year.  I had wondered if the insects had survived.

The one I found recently was a juvenile (nymph); it was two, maybe two and a half, inches long.  It had another two moults to undergo before becoming an adult.  Oddly enough, it was sitting beside my front door when I saw it.  I took it to my backyard where it was placed on a raspberry plant.  

The colour of an European praying mantis is dependent upon its surroundings rather than its sex.  I used to think that males were green and females brown, but apparently that's not the case.  The insects emerge from the ootheca a light brown colour.  They stay this colour through several moults.  In adulthood, the insects' colour depends on its surroundings as it matures.  Those living in a green environment will be green, those living in a brown environment will be brown.  They do not change colours as adults.

The only praying mantis native to Canada can be found in the extreme southern region of British Columbia, near Osoyoos.  The one I photographed above, the European mantis, is an introduced species found commonly in southern Ontario and Quebec and is becomming more common in the Okanagan.  

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com