Did the katydid steal an insect from a spider that had wrapped it up in silk? Did the katydid find the insect in the midst of laundry fuzz? The diversity of insects in India and the questions they provoke always amaze me.
I starting raising praying mantids in the lab for observation purposes in September 2018, when they hatched from an ootheca, or egg casing, that my friend found in a local tree. Praying mantids are cannibalistic, so over the months the immature praying mantids ate each other until only one remained! I continued feeding and raising this lone survivor until it reached adulthood in January 2019 and grew a pair of wings. Tragically, however, she passed away this week! I wish she had been able to mate and lay her own ootheca to start a new generation before dying.
