Professor Larry Hurd is the Herwick Professor of Biology at Washington and Lee University in Virginia.
Although the book is just overflowing with knowledge and information, it is mainly geared towards fellow scientists a,d biologists, and so some facts that might be interesting for the amateur Mantid enthusiast are not in there.
So I sent him an email with a few questions that puzzled me, and he answered them - I very much appreciate that he took the time to deal with this request by a stranger, asking those things that must seem fairly mundane and simple to him. He really helped us to come clean with some things - here is an excerpt from his mail:
I think the species of mantid you have in your yard is Stagmomantis carolina. The picture on your interesting blog shows that the wings do not cover the entire abdomen, and there seem to be a pair of pigmented spots about halfway down them. The specimen is indeed a female: males are much more slender and have long wings. Although females cannot fly, males are very adept at it and can be difficult to catch. Individuals can indeed change color between instars, mainly depending on the amount of ultraviolet light they are exposed to. They do not seem to know what color they are, so many people spot them when they move from a matching background to its opposite. Birds can find them at that time, as well.
It would be surprising if Tenodera sinensis were to be found in Alabama, since I have never found them that far south, but S. carolina should be fairly common in your area. They hatch much later in the spring than either species of Tenodera, and the hatching can extend over several weeks. It is also possible that there are several generations present at the same time, since your southern winters might not kill the adults, so the population could become asynchronous. I have seen that in Florida, where all stages of the same species are often found at the same time.
So, to have actually three Mantids in different stages of development on the same plant is not an accident, but can be explained with the extended hatching over several weeks. I do not believe that we have several generations here, because the last winter was the coldest, most brutal one in recent history, and did not at all adhere to the normal scheme of "wearing your Hawaii shirt on Christmas while sipping on a cool drink in the warm breeze on your porch" we usually experience. Here in Northern Alabama, we occasionally have low temperatures in winter, but not for several weeks, and not as cold as it was in January/February this year. These conditions have killed every Mantis for sure.
The eggs, on the other hand, can survive temperatures of minus 40 degrees or so, and it was not as cold as that.
Then there is the thing with the ultraviolet light - I had no idea that this had an influence on the Mantids teint.
Well, madam also started out as a brownish-gray nymph, and over time developed the pale green shade she wears now. When we first detected her, the plant was still small and leaf coverage was patchy. So Madam got a lot of sun, partly also because she spent the first few weeks of her life mainly on the upper side of the leafs, whereas now we mostly find her on the underside.
Mini-Me, on the other hand, started out with about the same color as Madam, but because by then the plant had grown in to this big jungle-like creature, he did not get as much sun as Madam, and thus stayed in that brownish-gray color.
And now, we know for sure that Madam's family name is Carolina - she indeed has those two dark spots on her wings that identify her as Stagmomantis carolina. Also, our assumption that she is a female seems to be correct, because compared to Mini-Me, she is much broader in the hip region, so to speak.
Well, again, many thanks to Professor Hurd for this - and if you ever have a question about rocket science, I would be honored to return the favor. :)
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