Ahh, I see now. It must have been a typo in your previous posting (mantod-mantid). I figured it might be possible that people who work with mantids might call them "Mantods" based on the order name, Mantodea. I've been rearing a couple of Carolina and European mantids in the lab and they've inspired me to consider keeping more 'exotic' species. These are only temporary residents that will be pinned as they get closer to natural death.

Check out Mantispidae, its a very interesting family. They are Neuropteroids closely related to lacewings that have convergent evolution with Mantids; they look very similar and have raptorial front legs, but they are holometabolous and have larval and pupal life stages.




^^Not my photos, I stole them from a google image search. The wasp mimic is pretty striking in my opinion, but I have a biased interest in wasps.

*By the way, I apologize for shooting us off topic here. Anyone who wants to talk blowflies again feel free to get us back on track at any time =)