Praying Mantis

We have praying mantis in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. There are two kinds of mantis in Nebraska, the Chinese mantis and the Carolina mantis. The larger, Chinese mantis, have a body length of 3 to 4.25 inches. I mainly see the Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis). They are quite numerous and I often disrupt them when I walk through or water plants in the habitat. They are predators and do eat beneficial insects as well as insect pests. They are fun to watch and it can be challenging to get good photos of them.

MJ Frogge

Baby mantis from earlier this summer

Adult Chinese mantis

Leaf Cutter Bees

In May, I replace a row of nesting blocks in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat solitary bee house. I checked the blocks the end of July to look for nesting activity. The leaf cutter bees have been very active! Leafcutter bees will snip discs of leaf material, about a quarter inch, from ash trees or roses. They take the leaf discs and fold them to construct small tube shaped nests inside pieces of wood or holes in trees. Inside of each cell an egg is placed with some pollen.

To make a solitary bee house, read this NebGuide ‘Creating a Solitary Bee House’: https://extensionpublications.unl.edu/assets/pdf/g2256.pdf

To learn more about leaf cutter bees, visit this site: https://byf.unl.edu/topics/leaf-cutter-bees

MJ Frogge

Praying Mantis

The past few days I have notice many Chinese praying mantis in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. They blend in well with the foliage and can go unnoticed unless disturbed.

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The praying mantis is an easy insect to recognize. They have a long narrow body, small triangular head with two large compound eyes. They also have impressive, large front legs to grab their prey.

Chinese mantis have a body length of 3 to 4.5 inches. The Carolina mantis is smaller, 1.5 to 2.5 inches in length.

Check out your habitat to see if you have both mantis living there. They are fun to watch.

MJ Frogge

 

Fall Habitat Day

This morning Nebraska Extension Lancaster County Master Gardeners volunteered and helped me in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. We had plenty of wonderful rain this year. So the Habitat got a bit over grown. We found the path, bench and picnic table, they were all over grown with native plants and a few weeds. We took out the weeds, cut back a few native grasses, but left everything else. It is important to leave plant material in pollinator habitats for overwintering insects and praying mantis egg cases. Many wildflowers like milkweed and Rudbeckia are dropping seeds now for plants next year. Birds like, American goldfinch, are seed eaters. Leaving the native tall thistle is an important food source for them. I hope we have many more beautiful fall days like today.

MJ Frogge

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Praying Mantid Egg Case

Yesterday was a great fall day to be in the Cherry Creek Pollinator Habitat. Jody and I were weeding and doing a little bit of clean up. While we were doing this, we found a few Chinese praying mantids egg cases. They are roundish and look like foam. The Carolina mantid egg case is flat, rectangular shaped and smaller. Both mantids are found in Nebraska.

If you find praying mantid egg cases on your plants or in the landscape, you should leave them alone. Each egg case contain up to two hundred eggs. In the spring the nymphs will emerge and they look like tiny versions of adult mantids. These insects are beneficial because they eat insect pests. But they can also eat other beneficial insects as well.

MJ Frogge