Bug FAQCalifornia Mantis
Stagmomantis wheelerii · Order: Mantodea · Family: Mantidae
Also called: Carolina Mantis
Adults are 2 to 3 inches long and come in green, yellow or brown colors with dark bands on the abdomen. They live in warm, dry parts of southern California below 10,000 ft, favoring chaparral and desert plants like creosote bush. They are carnivorous predators that eat other insects, even other mantids, and nymphs hatch in spring from eggs laid the previous fall; adults live less than a year.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
They show green, yellow or brown body colors with dark transverse bands on the abdomen, and both sexes have mottled wings with dark brown or black and reddish hindwings.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults measure between 2 and 3 inches in body length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
In California they are common in the warmer, drier southern regions below 10,000 ft. They prefer chaparral and desert habitats with enough vegetation, especially creosote bush, for climbing, hiding and hunting.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
They are carnivorous, eating any suitably sized insect, including members of their own species.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Adults do not survive the winter; their lifespan is usually under nine months.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Nymphs hatch in spring from eggs laid the previous fall.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It closely resembles the larger, more common Stagmomantis limbata in most physical traits.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 43 of 51 states and DC. Most records: North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What colors can a California mantis be?
They can be green, yellow or brown, with dark bands on the abdomen.
Source: Wikipedia
Where in California are they found?
In the warm, dry southern parts of the state below 10,000 ft, especially in chaparral and desert areas with plants like creosote bush.
Source: Wikipedia
What do they eat?
They eat other insects, even other mantids, as carnivorous predators.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Mantidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagmomantis_wheelerii
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.