Praying mantis Winter by Sarah Zuehlke

Praying Mantis winter

By Sarah Zuehlke

It is that time of the year again when it gets quite cold at night and cooler in the day and the trees start to change to beautiful fall colors of orange, red and yellow. The insects know it is getting cold as well and are now preparing for the winter. Some insects sleep through the winter while others prepare their eggs to survive the winter. Praying mantises have quite an interesting way of preparing their young for the winter. A plump female praying mantis is full of eggs and when the time is right she will lay her egg case which is called an ootheca. Praying mantises protect their eggs in this foamy tan colored ootheca which is like a thick blanket around the little precious eggs. Hundreds of little baby mantises can be inside just one ootheca, and the little ones will be dormant throughout the winter, they are in diapause, and will wake up in the spring when the temperatures get warmer. Watching a female mantis tenderly create her egg case is quite amazing. She uses the end of her abdomen and cerci to create the egg case and watching how much effort and detail she puts into it is fascinating. Chinese mantises create large inch long egg cases that are roundish but Carolina mantises create long thin egg cases. Praying mantises like to lay their egg cases in bramble and grasses near where they are living. They also like to lay egg cases in your garden. A female mantis will angle the egg case just right as she is laying it so the little nymphs can hatch correctly. So if you were ever wondering how praying mantises survive the winter, it is through their offspring in well protected egg cases.  Pictured here is Amber the female Chinese mantis laying her egg case a few days ago. Now her little ones are all ready for the winter. 

Hello, my name is Kassidy Kruger! I am currently majoring in Pre-Physician Assistant Biology and will be pursuing my master’s degree after graduating in the spring. My interest in entomology stems from being an outdoorsy kid who loved digging in the dirt. I had a peculiar (and messy) habit of bringing inside uncovered creatures from my backyard in attempt to add to my “biosphere” contained in a gallon aquarium. It wasn’t until after my aquarium had burst from the seams that I was forced to take a more virtual and book orientated path to learning about bugs.

I find that, more times than not, people place an unneeded stigma on insects by calling them “pests”, destroying any educational or moral potential it had once embodied. By learning the importance of bugs within our environment’s complex network from the get-go, I feel that I am one step ahead. I am eager to continue learning about insects and can’t wait to see the full scope of what this class has to offer.

Insect Ecology

   Hello everybody, my name is Jeff Olson and I am a biological sciences major at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. I'm from the Black Hills in  Rapid City, South Dakota. The outdoors and the environment have always been important to me because it is vital to many of my main interests, but I also come from a conservationist background. I also firmly believe that the state of the global environment is a major problem that that we will have to face.
   As far as entomology goes, my interest peaks at its importance to ecology in many areas, my interest declines with any mention or involvement of ticks. Phobias aside, insects are an extremely diverse group with ranging specializations to find intriguing. If you don't think so, I might suggest a David Attenborough commentated documentary on any insect. Overall, I know that insects have major world impacts on other organisms like animals and the food that we eat. That is enough for me to want to know more about the world of entomology.