I've been working on this for quite awhile. The hardest part was to find a way to spear the mantis without tearing it apart. This is maybe the fourth try? I had a bunch of preserved ones that each time I tried pierce just tore apart. This one I found as it died and as a result was soft enough to work.
Mantis Article
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/science/praying-mantis-eating-birds.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
A very article on praying mantises. The part where it notes they seem to be unable to help themselves when presented with something they can jump onto is something I can attest to. I have many, many photos of mantises sitting perched on my lenses because they were the right distance away.
Interestingly, the majority of the photos in the article are of subadult mantises. It's easy to spot because of the distinct lack of wings. While they're a few species without wings or with very short wings they are uncommon. Wings only come with the final shed to adulthood.
Photos
I used to drive around Nebraska to shoot landscapes.
