This is about as small as I've ever seen one of these amazing creatures, but when fully grown there are reports of them successfully capturing, killing and to some extent eating Hummingbirds and Lizards. I have photos somewhere of one capturing a Hawk Moth, which is about the same size as a Hummingbird.
The Praying Mantis is a most impressive ace predator within the world of insects!
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What a cute little bug(ger) Daniel.
Love the picture with it scouting the territory...looks ready to conquer the world 
Thanks Jan .... it probably already has its eye on those little aphid like bugs seen on some of the nearby leaves. Lunch is not far off it seems!
Very cool to have in your yard
I remember in 3rd or 4th grade, a classmate's pet praying mantis had babies that he brought in (about this size) and we all got to take 1 or 2 home in little clear plastic cups with plastic wrap over the top. Unfortunately, shortly after I made it home, mine climbed to the top, fell to the bottom of the cup and never recovered.
Great pictures of an interesting predator, we get them here in the summer about 3 inches long which seems to be the most common size here.
There are some amazing bugs around, redback spiders are about the size of a thumbnail but they will have a go at anything. I have seen them entangle then hoist up a yabby as well as a lizard both about 2 1/2 inches long. Amazing.
Going back through my photos of several years ago, I came up with these:
A fully mature Praying Mantis that is devouring a Hawk Moth, which is about the size of a small Hummingbird, that it managed to capture:
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Then about two weeks later in the same tree, there is seen a ripe female Praying Mantis depositing eggs in a hard casing that was still obvious a few years later. May or may not be the same Praying Mantis from the prior pictures, but I'm thinking that the eggs don't necessarily hatch out anytime soon, and may take years before they do:
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Amazing creature to be sure .... and their "sex life" is perhaps even more astonishing, but I have no photos to reveal that oddness. Just be glad you are not a Male Praying Mantis!!!
Well, it appears I'm having photo attachment problems once again, so will have to post the photos I wished to show above, individually in this following post.
Here is a couple more ..... I hope:
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Then the first of the next set of photos from two weeks later:
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... and now finally the last two:
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Enjoy!