Mantis fly Mantispidae, very special insect

Mantidflies, also called mantis flies or mantispids, look like a cross between a lacewing insect and a praying mantis. They are small, delicate creatures with intricately veined wings, but the front half looks like a small mantid, complete with raptorial forelegs.

Mantidflies are not hard to identify, if you know what lacewing insects and praying mantises look like — just imagine the two insects stuck together, and about an inch long. But to sharpen your ID skills, note some of these finer points of identification:

• The antennae are threadlike, toothed, or feathery, but they are never clubbed.
• The head is like that of a praying mantis: triangular, with big eyes on the top two corners and the mouth at the bottom corner.
• The prothorax (front portion of the thorax, which is the midpart of the body between head and abdomen), is elongated; some say it looks like the neck of a giraffe.
• The front pair of legs are like those of a praying mantis: they are modified for grabbing hold of prey, with a big claw at the tip that closes against the wide, spiny tibial segment.
• The front pair of legs are attached to the body at the front end of the prothorax, appearing just behind the head. The front legs are not used for walking; they are held up.
• The middle and hind pairs of legs are attached farther back on the body, and these are the only ones used for walking.
• The 2 forewings and 2 hindwings are all very alike and are similar to those of lacewings; both are in the “nerve-winged insects” order, with an intricate netlike pattern of veins on the wings.

Mantidflies vary in color. Most are either green or brownish, tan, grayish, or yellowish. Some common species include:

 

• The green mantidfly (Zeugomantispa minuta) is pale lime green, about the same color as a green lacewing. Their large eyes can be ornately patterned with a rainbow of iridescent colors. Their larvae are parasitoids in the egg sacks of spiders; adults capture and eat small insects. Missourians start seeing this species starting in late 

The brown wasp mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea) is typically banded with yellow, brown, rust, or black — it looks like a horror movie combo of a wasp and praying mantis, and even the wings are colored and patterned to resemble those of wasps. The wasp mimicry no doubt helps protect them from predators. Interestingly, across its broad North American range, this mantidfly is highly variable, matching the coloration of the wasps that are abundant locally. It lives in grasslands and other open habitats, where it hunts insects that visit flowers. Larvae are parasitoids of spiders. The adults are often attracted to lights at night.

• Say’s mantidfly (Dicromantispa sayi, syn. Mantispa sayi), the four-spotted, spot-tipped, or interrupted mantidfly (D. interrupta), and a species whose name translates to “beautiful slender mantidfly” (Leptomantispa pulchella) are all rather nondescript tan, brownish, or yellowish and are widespread in the eastern United States.

Similar species: It’s easy to see the similarity with green lacewings and other lacewings (there are a number of lacewing families, including Chrysopidae), and with the various species of mantises. Mantidflies are much more closely related to lacewings than they are to true praying mantids. Here are some other insects that are similar:

• Dustywings (family Coniopterygidae) are tiny, no bigger than 3 mm (about ⅛ inch) in length. They look something like miniature lacewings covered with dust. They have long, threadlike antennae. If you’re familiar with whiteflies, they look something like those. As larvae, they’re predators of aphids, mites, scale insects, and other small creatures.
• Snakeflies (now with their own order, Raphidioptera, but formerly in the Neuroptera) are not found in Missouri, but if you travel to western states, keep an eye out for these nifty, harmless animals. They resemble mantidflies but don’t have the raptorial forelegs. Their long, necklike prothorax and long, wide head, usually held up and bobbing around like a cobra’s, makes them look really weird. The females, with their freakishly long, flexible ovipositor, look downright scary. Again, they're completely harmless, except to the insects they eat.
• Other insects that used to be in order Neuroptera that are now split into different groups are the alderflies, dobsonflies and fishflies, owlflies, and antlions.