Praying Mantis
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." – Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein’s "Time Enough for Love"
I’ve been in Texas a long time and haven’t seen too many praying mantis. I found this baby praying mantis in the hawthorne bushes. Its not more than a quarter of an inch long.
As a kid growing up in Ohio, this was our favorite insect to catch because it requires a bit of skill to pinch them before they pinch you! In the fall, we would release them in my mother’s garden so that they would build their egg pods in the shrubs around the house.