their prey, they usually lie in wait for it, holding their front legs in an upright 
position. Once the prey comes within reach, the armed tibiae and femora shoot out 
with lightninglike speed to grasp it. Because of their habit of holding their front legs 
in an upright position, these insects are commonly called “praying mantis.” 
Mantids lay their eggs in the fall in papier-maché-like egg cases or ootheca, each of 
which contains 200 or more eggs; hatching occurs the following spring. There is 
one generation per year. 
The Carolina mantid, Stagmomantis carolina (L.), is the most common species 
in the Southern States. It occurs from the Atlantic Coast to New Mexico and north 
to Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Adults are 75 to 100 mm long. The male is 
grayish brown with smoky-brown outer wings and often with a greenish-yellow 
body and legs. Females either are colored like the males or are greenish yellow with 
bright-green forewings. S. floridensis (Davis), a Somewhat more slender and longer 
species, occurs in Florida. 
The Chinese mantid, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis (Saussure), an introduced 
species, occurs in the Eastern States west to Ohio and south to South Carolina. The 
adults are elongate, robust, and about 100 mm long (fig. 11). Females are green or 
greenish yellow; males are the same color or wholly brown, or brown with green 
margins on the forewings. The narrowwinged mantid, 7. augustipennis (Sau- 
ssure), also an introduced species, is similar to but more slender and smaller than 
the Chinese mantid. It is widely distributed in the Eastern States. 
Courtesy Conn. Agric. Exp. Stn. 
Figure 11.—Adult and egg mass of the Chinese mantid, 
Tenodera aridifolia sinensis. 
Two other eastern species are the European mantid, Mantis religiosa L., an 
introduced species (medium size and greenish yellow) and Litaneutria minor 
(Scudder). The latter is about 25 mm long, and occurs in the Great Plains (509). 
Family Phasmatidae 
Walkingsticks 
Eastern species of walkingsticks are long, slender, and subcylindrical. The head 
is free and nearly horizontal, the antennae are long, the eyes small, the abdomen is 
elongate, the legs very long and slender, and the wings are absent except for one 
species in Florida with rudimentary wings. Walkingsticks are slow-moving Insects, 
and all are plant feeders. The eggs are hard-shelled and are often dropped or laid on 
the ground. 
49 
