Friday, March 03, 2023

Considering the Chinese Praying Mantis an Invasive Species

In the past, praying mantises of all sorts were looked upon as beneficial insects that consume insect pests. A few things have changed in this regard. For one, insects in general are becoming fewer. My observations haven't been systematic, but I've noticed a steep decline in pollinators in the past few years, and a coinciding increase in insect predators, particularly Chinese praying mantises. And it's a stretch to believe a predatory insect is going to only consume insects that we consider harmful. Last fall, I found one chowing down on monarch butterflies

In my backyard I recently found four chinese praying mantis egg cases in close proximity. I'm thinking the best thing to do is to destroy them or put them in the trash. One post that helps distinguish between the different species of praying mantises and their eggcases also recommends feeding the nonnative eggcases to chickens. 

Past posts on praying mantises.


1 comment:

  1. Yes! They are huge and they are always prowling around the milkweed (monarchs) and eyeing the orange sulphur caterpillars...

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