A fellow Buffy fan?!!padfield wrote:The mantis holding the Berger's clouded yellow is a nymph of Empusa pennata - identified as nymph or adult by the projection ('crest') on the head, recalling something one might see on a dinosaur!!
There is, of course, a human-sized praying mantis in episode 4 of Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if anyone wants to know what one looks like.
Guy
When is a blade of grass not a blade of grass?
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Trev Sawyer
- Stock Contributor
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- Location: Cambridgeshire
There are indeed quite a few black squirrels near Cambridge - they are actually still "grey" squirrels, but interbreeding has led to this melanistic form of the same species. Very photogenic. Saying that, (as with my wine) I much prefer reds 
Greys have obviously taken over and, like them or loathe them, are essentially now part of our native wildlife. Very sad for our native reds, but we only have ourselves to blame.
Much the same is rapidly happening to the (now extremely rare)native "white-clawed" crayfish in our rivers... American Signal Crayfish literally pave the bottoms of many rivers now and are spreading at an alarming rate (wiping out our "natives" with a disease to which they themselves are immune). As a keen angler, I have witnessed their insidious march through our waterways first hand (although few non river users seem to appreciate just how serious the situation is getting). If you haven't got any in your area yet, BEWARE... they WILL reach you very soon and there is little anyone is able to do about it.
Trev
Greys have obviously taken over and, like them or loathe them, are essentially now part of our native wildlife. Very sad for our native reds, but we only have ourselves to blame.Much the same is rapidly happening to the (now extremely rare)native "white-clawed" crayfish in our rivers... American Signal Crayfish literally pave the bottoms of many rivers now and are spreading at an alarming rate (wiping out our "natives" with a disease to which they themselves are immune). As a keen angler, I have witnessed their insidious march through our waterways first hand (although few non river users seem to appreciate just how serious the situation is getting). If you haven't got any in your area yet, BEWARE... they WILL reach you very soon and there is little anyone is able to do about it.
Trev
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Charles Nicol
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- Location: Cambridge
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Trev Sawyer
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- Location: Cambridgeshire
Mantis' must surely be THE ultimate insect predator!! Thank God they don't get any bigger- if you put PREYING MANTIS into the search box of Youtube, there's some truly jaw-dropping clips on there! A little gruesome perhaps, but there's footage of Mantis' eating things you'd neverbelieve possible! Including a humming bird, a snake, a lizzard, a fish (!) and even a mouse!!!! 
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Charles Nicol
- Posts: 1602
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- Location: Cambridge
ther squirrel
here is that squirrel again !!
charles
charles