Cool flower and bug! ID’s please

[cnycharles]

I stepped over to this flower at break, and thought I saw the dried up remnants of a small praying mantis on the flower. I couldn’t see the spines on the arms like the usual ones you see in our area so I thought it had died there and parts had fallen off. But when I poked it moved!
Which species is this? The brown is not solid, it looks exactly like dead stick camouflage


It is not large at all, very small

 

[Ray]

Don’t know the plant, but that’s an acrobatic praying mantis.

 

[cnycharles]

Yes it is gravity defying . Does anyone know which species it is? (Whether native or foreign) ty

 

[abax]

I'm guessing native. I've seen the darker ones around from time to time...
perhaps immature?

 

[mrhappyrotter]

The flower looks like Salvia azurea and the mantis looks like a juvenile Carolina mantis, but I'm less sure about that ID.

 

[Jenny St. Michel]

Looks like a stick bug. I see them around every now and then. There’s a bunch of different kinds depending on your location. If you google stick bug and your location I bet you could find it. I don’t think they are harmful.

 

[Rockbend]

That far north, it is probably the Chinese Mantis.

A little immature for being this late in the season, it had better eat and grow a lot before the cold comes.