Maine’s Wildest Bug Looks Like It Was Built in a Lab

There is a bug in Maine that will make you do a triple take. It’s called the brown mantidfly, also known as the mantisfly, is a legit Frankenstein bug.

It looks a bit like a wasp at first glance, but is not. 

According to Bangor Daily news, it's a very rare and totally bizarre insect that looks like it was created with leftover bug parts.

I know, gross. It has the head of a praying mantis, a body of a wasp, and the front legs that look like scorpion hands.

This wild little thing is straight out of a horror movie.

The Maine Forest Service entomologist Mike Parisio says it’s, “You’d be really lucky to see one of these.”

Even though it has a very creepy appearance, the brown mantidfly is completely harmless to humans, so no worries. But to other insects, it’s basically Dracula.

Check out the YouTube video of a mantisfly, here. 

Meet Maine’s Frankenstein Bug: The Bizarre (But Harmless) Brown Mantidfly

According to Insects Identification, they are nocturnal hunters that will feast upon bugs. Oh! And get this, the larval stage gets even weirder because when it fist hatches, the larva searched for a female wolf spider.

Say what? I know! If it finds one, it hitches a ride until she lays her eggs, as per the article. 

This is nuts. Then in a move straight out of a Stephen King film, the fly sneaks into the egg sac and like a straw slurps them up from the inside. Do I still have you? It then cocoons itself right in the sac, eventually hatching into the teen mantidfly. 

Read More: Beware of the Gigantic Dobsonflies in Maine

If you’re creeped out, I get it. Fair enough. But listen. Don’t swat it or sweat it.  

Entomologist Charlene Donahue says, “They only look scary because that is our perception of them,” she said. “They are not scary — what they are is cool.”

So next time you see one of these, consider yourself wicked lucky and say hello to Maine’s Frankenstein bug.

Wow, nature it crazy.