Praying mantis nymph in the osteospermum

            New Zealand praying mantis (Orthodera novaezealandiae) nymph on my Osteospermum "Afrikaans Pink Spoon" (or at least I think that was the cultivar) in our garden in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I guess each ootheca has 20+ torpedo tubes, each launching one of these critters, so given the 5 or so groupings of nymphs I've found so far, we would have > 100 running around. While they are too small to be a threat to bees at present, they don't remain "sweet and innocent" for always.

I try to dissuade them since I promote a bee friendly garden, and they chomp too many for my liking - be it wild european/native bees, or the leafcutter bees I have intested in raising (some days I think I spend more on "pet lunches" keeping the mantises fat and well fed than on my own).

I did make a half-hearted end of season attempt to start deporting female mantises (or possibly the same one 3 times), but likely too little and too late to have any effect. As fascinating as they are to watch and photograph, I like to encourage them to go eat someone else's bugs because I want to keep (most of) mine for myself.

Cropped, but otherwise unprocessed camera jpeg.

Taken on: October 27, 2021

Tags:

New Zealand native

shot at home

SooC

Colour

Mantidae

Insect

Sigma

Praying mantis

Color

Pink

Orthodera

Nature

New Zealand

Purple

sharp

Native

Flower

Spring

D500

Animal

novaezealandiae

unprocessed

Plant

Green

Christchurch

macrophotography

macro

New Zealand Praying Mantis

floral

Canterbury

DoF « less

Sets appears in: • Mantidae • shot at home more » • Other insects « less

Camera: Nikon D500, f/8.0, 1/500 sec, 180mm (=270mm), ISO 500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D500
Lens:	180mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	180mm (35mm equivalent: 270mm)
ISO:	500
Exposure Bias:	+2 EV
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	GIMP 2.10.28
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