This praying mantis has been a regular in our yard for the last few weeks.
It might have hatched out of an egg case like this one.
Here’s a short video of a praying mantis hatching. As you can see, newly-hatched praying mantids look like miniature adults.
Edit:
Just found a cool new book recommended by the NSTA.
Praying Mantises: Hungry Insect Heroes (Insect World)
by Sandra Markle
So, mantises is the correct plural now? I had learned it as mantids…
We spent the weekend in the mountains of northeastern Arizona chasing butterflies with some members of the Central Arizona Butterfly Association.
Some of the butterflies were not ready to pose.
Others were very cooperative.
Although I learned a lot about butterflies this weekend, I mostly learned how little I know. There are many more butterfly species out there than I ever imagined.
For more information, try:
Dave Powell has Arizona Butterflies, identified to species.
Finding Butterflies in Arizona: A Guide to the Best Sites by Richard Bailowitz, Hank Brodkin (Author, Photographer), Priscilla Brodkin (Photographer), Kenn Kaufman (Foreword)
Butterflies of Arizona: A Photographic Guide by Hank Brodkin, Priscilla Brodkin and Bob Stewart
Arizona Butterflies & Moths: An Introduction to Familiar Species (A Pocket Naturalist Guide) by James Kavanagh and Raymond Leung (Illustrator)
Butterflies through Binoculars: The West A Field Guide to the Butterflies of Western North America (Butterflies and Others Through Binoculars Field Guide Series.) by Jeffrey Glassberg
You also might be interested in our list of butterfly and moth books for children at Science Books for Kids.
Disclosures:Â I am an affiliate for Amazon. If you click through the linked titles or ads and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. Proceeds will be used to maintain this self-hosted blog.
A few weeks ago in Summer Sounds 1, we saw the adult cicada.
If you have cicadas around, you may have found some of these.
It is the dried “skin” or exoskeleton of the cicada nymph. Cicada nymphs spend a year or more underground feeding on tree roots. When they are ready to emerge as adults, they dig out of the ground, crawl up onto a tree or the side of a building, and shed their exoskeleton for the last time.
A few days ago we dug up something really cool in the garden.
What is this weird grub? It is a live cicada nymph! Check out the white eyes. They were eerie.
It was really clumsy and kept rolling onto its back.
On its back, it was easier to see the large front legs used for digging, with dark claws. In between the front legs is the tube mouth the cicada uses to suck on tree roots.
You can see those things in the shed exoskeleton as well.
Note:Â if you have one of shells, examine it closely. In the back where the skin has split you can often see tiny white threads. Those are the reminants of the cicadas breathing tubes, called trachae.
After a few photos, the cicada nymph went back into the soil. Hopefully, it will be singing in the trees someday soon.
Edit: A friend posted a link to a cool video of a cicada molting. Thanks Molly!
For more information, see Roberta Gibson Writes.
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