InevitableSwing
It's not a wasp, a mantis or a fly. It doesn't even have a stinger.
Wasp Mantidfly - Field Station
Mantisflies/mantidflies, family Mantispidae, are in the order Neuroptera (“nerve wings”), a very cool order that includes antlions and lacewings, plus owlflies and a few other dynamite groups. [...] There are about 400 species in the mantidfly family – 13 in North America – and they’re most diverse just about anywhere south of Wisconsin. They’re not related to praying mantises and they’re not related to flies, either.
[...]
Because they’re such good mimics, wasp mantisflies are probably overlooked frequently (especially by the BugLady). They come in five color phases, and each matches a Polistes (paper) wasp that’s found within its range. [...] Batesian mimicry is mimicry wherein an animal that is edible disguises itself as something that is either noxious or harmful, benefiting from its doppelganger’s reputation.
A reply...
I remember reading in one of John Timpson's books about this. Apparently it was the church cat, and the verger had them buried in the churchyard. People complained, but his argument was that it'd spent more time in church than anyone!
Recent breeding experiments have revealed that bright pink, not green, could be the most genetically dominant colouring of the North American oblong-winged katydid.
[...]
Pink, yellow and orange katydids occur as a result of erythrism – a genetic mutation controlled by recessive genes that causes an absence of a normal pigment, such as green, and/or an excessive production of another pigment, such as red or pink. It made sense, seeing how rare pink, yellow and orange katydids are in the wild.
