The African Twig Mantis

By Warren Dick

This interesting looking Prey Mantis comes with a bit of a background story that I feel I need to share.

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Everywhere I go I like sharing my passion for God’s small and misunderstood creatures, hopefully dispelling fears and old wives’ tales in the process.

Nowhere is this truer than at home, I have shared tons of my knowledge and passion with my neighbours, so much so that once where there was fear at just the sight of a snake, they now enjoy snake sightings in their gardens and are quite happy to leave them be. The one neighbour was particularly scared of Prey Mantises until I introduced her to the Spiny-flower Mantis, she then saw a different side of these creatures and has taken a great interest in them.

It was with great excitement that she called me one day in April this year to show me this strange looking Prey Mantis that suddenly appeared on her potted rose bush in her kitchen. Having never seen one before I took some pictures and set out to try identify this very well camouflaged Mantis. It turns out to be an African Twig Mantis, the name really suits these little guys as they really do resemble twigs. If they do not move, they remain almost invisible, waiting for unsuspecting little insects to feed on. They grow to a maximum length of just 8cm, this little guy is still living quite happily at home in my neighbours windowsill, where it does a great job at eradicating flies and other small insects in the kitchen. Once it is fully grown and has wings it will be released back into the wild. What an amazing little creature.

If you would like to have your bugs, spiders or even snakes identified you can WhatsApp me pictures or call me on: 0722110353