#Mantidflies
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soundoftheforest.bsky.social
Mantidflies belong to the insect order Neuroptera, the same family as lacewings.
January 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
thecorvidhive.bsky.social
Wasp mantidflies (Climaciella brunnea) sketch
October 25, 2024 at 1:16 PM
nickybay.bsky.social
Here are 3 beautiful mantidflies that I saw last month!

They are neither mantises nor flies; their larvae are parasitoids of spider eggs, and these adults appear to mimic wasps.

Euclimacia rufocincta
Tuberonotha sp.
Euclimacia sp.
April 11, 2025 at 11:10 PM
apsciencebylyn.bsky.social
Grabby Hands waiting for nightfall (Snackfall)

I love mantidflies 🤎
Brown mantidfly hanging out under a persimmon leaf Brown mantidfly hanging out under a greenbrier leaf
August 20, 2026 at 2:48 AM
snackalope.bsky.social
mantises and mantidflies are entirely convergent evolution what the hell
snackalope.bsky.social snak @snackalope.bsky.social · Oct 26
awake& haunted by the newly obtained knowledge that muskrats are not as closely related to beavers as i would have assumed
October 27, 2024 at 4:19 AM
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Hey so uhhh Mantidflies? Yeah they’re metal as hell.
A mantidfly, which looks like a praying mantis with haunted rainbows trapped in its eyeballs, munched on a small white moth
July 13, 2025 at 5:14 PM
edge-nature.bsky.social
While mothing for a long-term biodiversity study, the Say's Mantidflies also arrive during the survey. Relatives of lacewings, Mantidfly larvae are parasites of wolf spider eggs.
A coppery colored mantidfly, with big predatory forelegs.
January 18, 2025 at 10:48 PM
nearbirdstudios.bsky.social
MANTIDFLIES MANTIDFLIES

I know for sure there were at least three, but I think there were more like 5-6 individuals! I think they're Leptomantispa pulchella 🌿
A brown mantidfly on a greige surface. It looks like the front of a mantis and the back of a lacewing, but its raptorial forelegs are held tucked behind the first leg segment, so they kind of look backwards relative to how we're used to seeing them on mantises.
July 15, 2026 at 7:01 AM
soundoftheforest.bsky.social
One of my favorite examples of convergent evolution is Mantidflies. Because this isn’t a mantis pretending to be a wasp! They just developed the same raptorial forelimbs as a mantis on their own.
A Mantidfly sits on a plant. It looks like it’s a praying mantis pretending to be a wasp, even though it belongs to an entire different order of insect.
January 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
errantsquam.heckingsne.cc
just learned that mantidflies don't have feet on their raptorial forelimbs (forgetting the feet is a common mistake while drawing mantises)

I guess artists have been drawing mantidflies all along
May 2, 2026 at 6:31 AM
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
The first 3 moth nights we saw:
Beavers
Foxes
Raccoons
Sundews and pitcher plants
Bats
Imperial moths
Longhorn beetles
One zillion small moths
Bess beetles
Mantidflies
Sphinx moths
Frogs
Toads
Click beetles
And ate lots of blueberries and huckleberries
July 27, 2025 at 2:44 PM
earthlingcards.bsky.social
Mantispidae aka mantidflies aka mantispids aka mantid lacewings aka mantisflies aka mantis-flies..... anyway cool bugs :) Got a sec to check out the video I took so will post some snips!
June 14, 2025 at 12:09 AM
ajmongue.bsky.social
Mantidfly mania in the Mongue lab after a successful collecting night!

#insects #inverts #evosky
Mantidflies in individual collecting vials Another angle of mantidflies in vials
August 9, 2024 at 3:19 AM
badgersyt.bsky.social
found this lil guy today :D #photography #mantidfly #mantidflies #insects #insect #bug #bugs
July 18, 2026 at 1:09 AM
luxomancer.bsky.social
This is the Beautiful Mantidfly, #Leptomantispa pulchella. The name is in my opinion very accurate 😻

#Macrophotography
#Neuroptera
#Mantidflies
#Insect(s
#Invert(s
A brown and tan insect with preying mantis like raptorial arms, bronze like eyes and a pair of lacy wings.
May 30, 2024 at 11:34 PM
shazzoir.bsky.social
MANTIDFLIES, MANTIDFLIES,
goes wherever a mantidflies... ♫
July 15, 2026 at 7:27 AM
toadally.bsky.social
I really like members of the order Neuroptera! Antlions, mantidflies, dobsonflies, and snakeflies just don’t get the attention of some of the other orders, despite having very striking and unique features (as well as some ridiculous looking babies.)
May 13, 2025 at 1:18 AM
jaspersailfin.bsky.social
Mantidflies are amazing little predatory insects. Here we have four species common in the US: Brown Wasp Mantidfly (Climaciella brunnea), Green Mantidfly (Zeugomantispa minuta), Say's Mantidfly (Dicromantispa sayi), and Four-spotted Mantidfly (Dicromantispa interrupta).
#MantidflyAppreciationDay
Photo collage of four mantidfly species sitting on leaves and flowers.
December 12, 2024 at 8:15 PM
luxomancer.bsky.social
I finally got to see this species this weekend and now I have seen all the Eastern U.S. Mantidflies 😍
August 13, 2026 at 12:24 PM
tisoffwork.bsky.social
Very excited to run into a Four-spotted Mantidfly on my moth sheet last night. Mantidflies are not closely related to Praying Mantises and are actually in the Lacewing order Neuroptera. 🌿📷 #insect #invert
Four-spotted Mantidfly on white sheet
June 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
sjberger.bsky.social
Pretty sure this is the weirdest bug I've seen IRL.

Brown wasp mantidfly. Mantidflies evolved mantis-like arms *independent of mantises*, and this one also evolved to look like a paper wasp.

Plant native plants, get the weirdest native bug you've ever seen.

#NativePlants 🌱 #BugSky #Minnesota
A bug like a centaur, except instead of a horse body it's a wasp and instead of a human torso it's a mantis torso. Also this is real life.
July 13, 2026 at 2:20 AM
mothwithapencil.bsky.social
Finding out bugs like wasp mantidflies exist is the closest we can get
October 13, 2024 at 1:32 PM
luxomancer.bsky.social
Happy (Owl) #Flyday! This is a split-eyed Owlfly, Ululodes floiridanus. Owlflies are in the order #Neuroptera along with lacewings, mantidflies and antlions.

#MacroPhotography
#Insects
#Invbertebrates
A photo of a tan owlfly from the front. The owlfly has long slender antennae, one extends to the left of the frame, the other towards the camera. It has very large eyes, the left has a green iridescence, the right has a star shaped reflection. There is a mass of hair like scales under the owlfly's eyes that looks very much like a beard. The owfly's lace like wings extend upwards from its tan hair covered thorax and its large abdomen extends just out of focus to the upper right.
February 13, 2026 at 4:01 PM
earthlingcards.bsky.social
Wasp mantidflies :) Like a normal lacewing, but with mantid like grabbing claws and tricky colours to look like a wasp.
June 7, 2025 at 6:53 AM
tjalamont.bsky.social
Here is your Monday Mantidfly, magnified. Mantidflies are in the order Neuroptera with lacewings, antlions, & owlflies. They all have incredible eyes. Shot handheld at 5X, then cropped about 30%; I had to stack 5 images to get the whole eye, which is maybe the size of a poppy seed, in focus. 🐙🌿
An extreme closeup macro photo, side angle, of the head and front legs of a mantidfly, against a pure white background. The compound eye is in focus, and part of the elongated, neck-like dark brown thorax, but everything else is out of focus due to the high magnification. The eye is globular, and is a beautifull mix of green, turquoise, and orange-red toward the center.
September 1, 2025 at 4:30 PM