"Look before you leap!"
How many times have you heard that or something similar: "Pay attention! Watch your step! Be careful! Be vigilant!"
But have you ever seen a praying mantis take a step and then a gigantic leap--right into a spider web? "That's one small step for mantis, one giant leap for mantiskind." (What astronaut Neil Armstrong might have said?)
The scenario: a subadult male Stagmomantis limbata (as identified by UC Davis alumnus and praying mantis expert Lohit Garipati, a doctoral student at the Richard Glider Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History) is perched on a water spout near a fish pond in a Vacaville garden.
Mr. Mantis is eyeing the goldfish darting around in the pond. Hey, Mr. Mantis, wrong prey!
Mr. Mantis suddently leaps from the water spout and lands smack-dab into a sticky spider web. Caught! Like a honey bee caught between his spiked forelegs. He thrashes around, struggling to free himself. Is there a spider around? Yes, but not nearby. Not yet.
More thrashing, more struggling. Mr. Mantis suddently decides to return to his perch, and as he does, he bites the threads and manages to free himself. No spider nearby. Not yet.
What could have happened? A battle between the mantis and the spider?
"I've seen mantises even turn and catch the spider!" Garipati said.
Just a day in the life of a mantis.
