Ohio bug specialist mounts research

CLEVELAND (AP) - The often-motionless praying mantis is getting a close look in an Ohio research project.

Gavin Svenson with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History tells The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer that he's gathering a praying mantis collection in boxes and glass vials from museums around the country.

The items, including the Carnegie Science Center's specimens from Pittsburgh, join Svenson's set of 4,000 mantises plucked from camouflage hiding places on grass stems, tree branches and flower petals worldwide.

A week ago, Svenson took an East Coast swing, gathering the entire 9,000-mantis collection from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and samples from the American Museum of Natural History and the New York State Museum.