“A Prayer Chain”…get it?!? Today, my buddy Brock just happened to notice a strange pod on this chain hanging outside of our kitchen. I looked up and discovered what came from inside that pod. A whole congregation of praying mantises had been born from that pod and had made their way up the chain!
I was thinking of calling them “praying McMantises.” (*ugh*)
Here is a little bit of information about their breeding which I discovered here.
BREEDING
Breeding season is in the summer in temperate areas. After mating, the female will lay groups of 12-400 eggs in the autumn, in a “frothy” liquid called an “ootheca”, that turns into a hard protective shell. This is how these insects survive during the wintertime. Small mantids emerge in the spring. Often, their first meal is a sibling. Young mantids or nymphs, also eat leafhoppers, aphids and small flies. Young mantids will shed many times before it is full grown. It takes an entire summer or growing season for mantids to mature to adulthood. One generation develops each season. Many species of mantids resemble ants when they are small, but as they go through a series of molts, they begin to look more like adult mantids.
Knowing Your ABCDs 