Not a Carolina Mantis
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my apartment door. Okay, I have to confess that my hearing is not good enough to have heard this guy "tapping, gently rapping" on my door. It wasn't until I went outside that I noticed my visitor. Probably because of the light in the doorway, my apartment door is a fairly popular spot for moths, mayflies, and various other nocturnal insects. This is bound to attract predators like the (relatively) large mantises down to small jumping spiders. I suspect this fella had staked out the area in hopes of making a meal of my smaller arthropod visitors. When trying to get an ID, I initially went with iNaturalist's 1st suggestion, a Carolina Mantis . But then I read that the wings of the Carolina Mantis only go about 2/3 of the way down its abdomen, which is obviously not the case with this individual. That leaves the 3 usual suspects: European Mantis - Generally bigger t...