mantis eats hornets & wasps

Laurel Godley godley at hotmail.com
Tue Dec 29 13:28:53 EST 1998


I discovered quite by accident that mantis will readily catch and eat 
yellowjackets.  My friend received an adult female as a gift.  She was 
quite entertaining, a lovely pet really.  We were want to eat dinner on 
the patio that summer along with it's myriad of guests.  I for one am 
generally tolerant of our uninvited winged guests, after all they don't 
eat much.  It just so happened that Leafy, the mantis, had joined us for 
dinner one evening.  She seemed quite delighted for the change in diet 
and eagerly relished the inbound.  She happily sat atop the mound of 
ribs and picked them off as they flew by.  Quite entertaining really.  I 
would recommend this method for anyone desiring a nice quiet picnic.  

endnotes: 
1) Bear in mind that mantis are rather indiscriminate.  They will eat 
your leps too!
2) Mantis will NOT eat squash bugs, or if I may extrapolate, members of 
the bug family.  This was quite disappointing really but after several 
bites Leafy just stopped.  She looked rather ill for a day or so and 
refused any future attempts on my part to feed her either the black/red 
or the green type munching my zucchini
3) I did try a similar experiment the following summer with a younger 
mantis and a hornet.  This didn't work.  The mantis looked none to 
healthy to begin with and later perished.  The hornet alas is one the 
lose, last seen in Carson City.
4) On a finally and happy note, Leafy, the original mantis, after 
ingesting several weeks worth of yellow jackets went on to become the 
mother of several nice eggs sacs and innumerable young.

best wishes...  Laurel
 

>
>I have both Yellowjackets AND Bald-faced Hornets going after my moths 
in the 
>summer.  While they are both in the family vespula, they are NOT the 
same.  They 
>are different species and deal with the moths differently.  And while 
there is 
>one species of Bald-faced Hornet(V. maculata) that I know of, there are 
many 
>species of Yellowjackets.  
>
>The Yellowjackets land on the moth, sting it, and bring it to its 
UNDERGROUND 
>nest.  The Bald-faced Hornets land on the moth, sting it, and then 
alight on a 
>nearby branch where it strips off the wings.  Sometimes it strips off 
the wings 
>in flight or on the sheet where the moths are resting.  Then it brings 
the moth 
>back to its nest, which is ABOVE ground. Last summer, I was actually 
able to 
>find a V. maculata nest by following the trail of discarded moth wings. 
It was 
>underneath the eave of my house.  Once either species of hornet finds 
your moth 
>sheet, they will continue to utilize it until either they are removed, 
or the 
>sheet is moved.  
>
>In Connecticut, it's been my experience that the hornets begin hunting 
for the 
>moths at dawn.  In order to keep them from picking off the insects on 
my sheet, 
>I have to get up before they do, record what I need to, and shake them 
free.  
>It's a real pain in the ass.  Of course, when I find the hornets' 
nests, I 
>dispatch them.  My family has been severely stung too many times! If 
anyone 
>wants to know of an effective way to do this without pesticides, email 
me.
>
>On a side note:  Other sheet predators include Assassin Bugs, many 
species of 
>birds (an Eastern Phoebe actually built her nest right next to my 
operation), 
>Raccoons, amphibians (Eastern Toad, Woodfrog, Green Frog, Bull Frog, 
Pickerel 
>Frog - all have been recorded at the moth sheet!), and several species 
of 
>spiders.
>
>
>
><><><><><><><><><>
>John Himmelman
>Killingworth, CT USA
>jhimmel at connix.com
><><><><><><><><><>
>


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