It is Tenodera aridifolia - Chinese mantis. The other you are more familiar with is Mantis religiosa - the european mantis. It is a good looking insect.

look for its egg sacs ... it will look like someone used some expanding foam on one of your plants.. make sure you dont cut that down for winter.. and compost it ... leave it until late spring ..

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Tenodera+aridifolia+ess+sac&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

i presume they are beneficials in the garden ....

ken

Please do look for the egg sacs and destroy them -- Chinese mantis is invasive and kills bees & butterflies. When I catch those guys in my garden I behead them with my Scissors of Doom.

Thanks, all.

I kinda wondered about the Chinese part -- I googled and saw it was accidentally introduced, is not native. He is the first one I've seen at this house so I don't think I've been invaded or anything, but still....maybe best to destroy.

Initially I thought they were cool... then I noticed a pile of butterfly wings on the ground and found a Chinese mantis in the verbena above. That prompted a little research which turned me into a cold blooded killer;)

Not allowed in my gardens. I have a very healthy population of beneficial insects and don't want to see their numbers diminished by these aggressive predators. I've seen them snatch bees from flowers.

I haven't seen him since but it's kinda hard to find something in a sea of plants. Or maybe a bird got to him :0) I'll keep an eye out, though I don't know if I have the stomach to squash a bug that big.

They have skinny little necks: it's easy to behead them. After you snip the head off, the mantis walks around like a zombie for awhile - suitably creepy October entertainment.