ISSN 1364-3193

Mantis Study Group Newsletter 21 & 22

August / November 2001

Newsletter Editor
Phil Bragg
8 The Lane
Awsworlh
Nottingham
NG 16 2QP

Membership Secretary
Paul Taylor
24 Forge Road
Shustoke
Coleshill

Birmingham B46 2AL

Editorial

With nothing submitted, there was no newsletter in
August. I was about to send out a single sided sheet for as
this newsletter, in the hope that someone would write
something for the next one, when an article from the
Jacksons. Now we have a two page newsletter, a long
way short of the 30 pages of newsletter number two!

Christmas is coming; why not spend Boxing day
morning writing an article for the MSG newsletter instead
of watching old films on TV? Then in the afternoon you
could do some drawings of mantids. All your articles for
the February newsletter should be sent to me by mid January if possible,
articles = no newsletter!

Remember, no

Exhibitions

We hope to be exhibiting at the following events.

25 th November 2001

Midlands Entomological Fair. At Kettering Leisure Village. Just off junction 8 of the A14.
5 th October 2002 - (Provisional date).

AES exhibition at Kempton Park Racecourse.

Brief encounter — Felicity Jackson & family.

We were glad we would have an overnight stop in Japan on our return journey from
Australia. Even though it was just one night in the Osaka airport hotel. One, we would get
a night’s sleep. Two, we could step on to Japanese soil.

Japanese concrete and tarmac, it turned out. The hotel was part of the airport complex.
Still, we went outside, late evening, to breathe Japanese air (humid, and very warm). Built
on a huge manmade platform in Osaka Bay, the complex was not going to house much
wildlife.

A couple of small moths fluttering around the lights made us hopeful. A bit of hedge
surrounded a well-lit car park - what might we find there? Grasshoppers for a start. A
skipper-type butterfly rested inconspicuously, wings folded. A brilliant metallic green beetle.
Then we saw the mantis. About 10cm long, brownish green, it waited amongst the foliage.
As Katy tried to catch it, at first it jumped away. She caught it again; this time it calmed
down and walked up her arm, finally settling on her head. From this vantage point the

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mantis watched us, turning its head to look at the camera as we tried (without flash) to
photograph it. We in turn watched this beautiful creature for a few minutes. Could we take
it home with us? Could we run the gauntlet of the smiling and bowing hotel staff, mantis on
head? What were the penalties for unauthorised export of live insects? We returned it to the
hedge.

Next morning, there was no sign. It (she, I am sure) was too well camouflaged, or had
flown. The day-shift insects had taken over. The Skipper was on the wing, and two minute
Blues. And we had a plane to catch. End of brief encounter.

The photos came out relatively well. The drawing in this newsletter is taken from the
photograph. Identification, anyone?

Editor's note: From the drawing above, it looks rather like a Tenodera sp., a genus which
is well known in Asia - and almost everywhere else!

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