Chinese Mantis ... or a relative?

This is probably a Chinese Mantis, although my understanding is that a Narrow-winged Mantis (aka Japanese Mantis) is an awfully similar mantis that's also in the area. I don't normally handle the bugs I photograph, so I can't look for an orange spot field mark between the front legs. I've read that the Chinese Mantis has a yellow spot instead; I don't know what you do if the spot is yellowish orange.

With views like this one, I've been IDing them at the genus level (Tenodera) on iNaturalist since both (related) species are in that genus. (There are around 16 species in the genus, though I think the Chinese and Narrow-winged Mantises are probably the only 2 that are a good candidate for this mantis.)

Here's another article to help ID these guys.

September 5, 2022 in Bridgewater
Photo 238965050, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)




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