Friday, March 19, 2010

Praying mantis egg cases

Near where we often start our walks on weekend mornings, I noticed LOTS of praying mantis egg cases, scattered on the Clethra alnifolia shrubs planted along the road.

There were at least fifteen, in a group of maybe 6-8 plants. A lot (I thought, and many more that I'd ever seen before in one place).

Each egg case will hatch between 100-200 young mantises in late spring. Remarkable!