Grab a close-up - This photo is what first brought me to Daves Garden. I have a lot of trees around my house but this guy was on my back porch almost asking for a photo, and how could anyone turn him down? After a lot of research - if its not the Gonatista grisea (Florida bark mantis) or the Stagmomantis carolina, what is he, besides obviously a type of Praying Mantis? I haven't been able to find a name for this amazing looking creature, who happens to be living in DeFuniak Springs, Florida.
It appears you are correct in you ID. The patterns are variable and this one may be a male.
That is a not a Florida Bark Mantis. That might be Stagmomantis floridensis! That is amazing!
What are the key characters that reliably differentiate the species of Stagmomantis?
That one does not look like a Stagmomantis limbata. Female Stagmomantis limbata have two white dots on their wings. Male Stagmomantis limbata have a green stripe on the side on their wings. Male Carolina Mantids do not have that green stripe. Female Carolina Mantids have black dots. There is not much information about mantids. So I do not know about other Stagmomantis species. Their might be another Stagmomantis species that has a green stripe on the side of a male Stagmomantis limbata. I think their are only five or six Stagmomantis species in America.
No, that is probably a Carolina Mantis because the S. floridensis have the wing covering only half the abdomen and the carolina mantis 3 fourths of the abdomen I think. I read that the Carolina Mantids live in Florida.
