Look closerInsects
Praying mantis season: full-grown mantises and their egg cases
When: September to October
September is peak mantis season: the year's mantises are now at full size in gardens and meadows, and females are leaving foam egg cases on stems that will carry the whole next generation through winter.
Why this time of year
Mantises hatch in spring and grow all summer, so only in fall are they big enough to catch the eye; the adults die as winter approaches, which makes fall the whole show.
How to notice it
- Hunt slowly along goldenrod, garden edges, and tall grass on a warm afternoon; a mantis holds still and lets you get close.
- Massachusetts has two kinds, Chinese and European, and neither is native; both arrived over a century ago.
- Look on rough stems and twigs for the egg case: a hardened tan foam blob about the size of a thumb.
- Mark where you find an egg case and check it again in spring, when 100 to 200 tiny mantises can hatch from one case.
Try this with kids: Can you get close enough to a mantis to watch it turn its head and look back at you?
the egg case is a foam blob a female mantis leaves on a stem, which hardens to protect the eggs all winter
Safety
- A big mantis can pinch a finger; watching beats holding.
Sources
- hitchcockcenter.orgIn Massachusetts there are two species of praying mantises, the Chinese mantis and the European mantis; neither is native, both introduced over 100 years ago; late summer and early fall is prime time for seeing praying mantises; females lay egg cases in late summer and fall, the adults die as winter approaches, and around 100-200 nymphs hatch per case in spring.
- extension.umd.eduThe egg case is a hardened, straw colored, foam-like mass attached to small stems and twigs, containing dozens to hundreds of eggs which overwinter within its protective walls and hatch in spring.
- extension.illinois.eduEgg cases are found in fall and winter; after laying, the egg case quickly hardens for winter and the nymphs emerge next spring; most adults die out during late fall and early winter, and by the end of summer mantises are at conspicuous adult size in gardens.
In the guide for September, October