In 30 years of living in this town, I've only ever seen two Mantids (sp?) the first was all green, and this gal who landed on me a few days ago and made me just about jump out of my garden crocs, and I found her again in the same garden area last night as I was watering. She didn't seem to appreciate me dousing her and jumped from one plant to another, I wouldn't have seen her otherwise. She's tan and about 4 inches long. Any ideas as to which one she is.
It looks to me like the brown phase of the European Mantis (Mantis religiosa): http://bugguide.net/node/view/27208
Note that the BugGuide image specifies the front coxa with black-ringed white spot as being characteristic of this species. You can clearly see this feature on the inside of the upper segment of the right leg of your mantis.
The only problem is that BugGuide says that its distribution is
Range
Eastern U.S. into Ontario
Thank you Kennedyh. You can see more images of this Mantis here http://flickr.com/photos/begonias-photos/sets/72157601630645044/
If he (or she) is Mantis religiosa, then it's a long way from home!
It appears that someone near here (Contra Costa County, +/- 1 hour away) also has this one
http://bugguide.net/node/view/27208/bgpage
