They may be hard to find among the vegetation as soon as they hatch, but it is VERY easy to find the egg cases of mantids, like this one…

Mantid egg case

… where I work at Prairie Ridge.  In Arizona, I had to work to find mantid egg cases and I was always super excited when I did.  In the Raleigh area it seems like every other tree has a mantid egg case on it!  A few days ago, one of my coworkers saw the first new mantid sitting on top of its case among those we have gathered in the garden, one tiny, perfect little Chinese mantid.  There are likely millions more about to hatch at Prairie Ridge alone.  Just one more sign that spring is coming – and that I’ll have a lot more new bug photos and stories to share soon!

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