first encounter was actually with an ootheca on a stone nearby my home, when I was about 10 years old. I had a booklet about invertebrates, where I found what it was. It is much later that I observed the insect for the first time.

I saw an ant with weird fore legs. Turns out, its a mantis mimicking ant to find a meal. However, that wasn't my first encounter but made me much more interested in entomology.

My first encounter with a mantis was ten years ago and my first impression was of amazement, I admired its stalking behavior and elegant posture on a branch ... How such a tiny creature could generate great empathy in just a few seconds of observation?, That was when I decided that these amazing insects would be part of my life.

I see praying mantises all the time, but what I admire most about them is the mimicry with the leaves of the plants that makes them look invisible. I have some interesting photos of Colombian species that you can visit in my Flicker photo gallery.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/140413390@N06/42547561462/in/datetaken-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/140413390@N06/39775010254/in/datetaken-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/140413390@N06/41697286915/in/datetaken-public/

Throughout my youth, I read many children's books about insects that depicted colorful illustrations of tropical mantises. I considered them to be creatures of fantasy, as I never encountered one in real life while growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Then, when I was 8-years old, I discovered some Tenodera sinensis oothecae that were for sale at a local plant nursery for the advertised purpose of pest control. My father initially refused to purchase any of the oothecae but each time we drove past the nursery on our regular journeys home I would ask him again and again. I was incessant. My father eventually gave in and bought 3-4 of them. We tied the oothecae to shrubbery in our yard and I would check on them regularly in hopes of seeing the elusive mantises emerge from within. Then, one day in early summer, I found what I believed to be "saw dust" (protonymph exuviae) that had been windblown and got caught on the outside of one of the ootheca. As I found no mysterious mantises running about the yard, I figured the oothecae were infertile. My father reiterated that he had never seen a praying mantis in northern Utah his entire life and knew in his infinite wisdom that such creatures could not survive in such a mountainous climate, which was why he initially refused to purchase the oothecae. Several weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised to find some bright green 2nd instar nymphs crawling about the bushes! As the summer drew on, I routinely sought out the nymphs in my father's backyard. Once located, I would capture grasshoppers, yank off their hopper legs, and then place the impeded prey items directly in front of the Tenodera nymphs to capture and eat. I was fearful that if I did not routinely feed the nymphs in this manner then they would die off as my father had warned. Toward the autumn, the nymph sightings became fewer and fewer. I was prohibited from bringing any inside the house so I became dismayed. No adults were found and the colony failed to establish itself, as near as I could tell. From that summer forward, I sought to learn all that I could about these mythical creatures. The dearth of Utah Mantodea in general only added to the allure ... until I discovered these "little gray sticks" that ran along the ground known as Litaneutria.

My firs encounter was during my master degree. A mantis came into my kitchen during the night and almost stepped on it! I fell in love with it and started to create mantis throughout my master degree. As a consequence, now in the PhD, I have changed my research from fishes to Mantodea!