This isn't a Mantis at all, but an Ambush Bug, a relative of the Assassin Bug that lives on and around flowers, attacking insects that come to the flowers to drink the nectar. The key identifying features are the wings which fold into an X-shape on the back, and the pointed, beak-like mouthparts used for stabbing prey, injecting digestive juices, and sucking out their liquified internal organs like a Spider does.
Butterflystomper
Jan 3, 2004 6:10 PM
Thank you Chris for the info. The front legs have a mantis look about them but the probosis definitely isn't mantis like.