That other thread is too scary. So I’m staring this thread with nicer, prettier bugs in it (and don’t get all “spiders aren’t bugs” with me. I don’t care)
There you go. I feel better now.
Oh yeah, praying mantises are real cute… unless you’re married to one…
So Praying Mantises aren’t pretty per se. But they are cool. So they deserve to be in my thread. And the fact that the female does that just adds to the general coolness 
That’s not a nice bug. 
One winter, my sister found a praying mantis egg case on a tree branch and, unbeknownst to my parents, brought it home and put it on a shelf in her bedroom. Well, after being in the warm house for a few days, the wee little buggies decided it was Spring. Suddenly, there were thousands of tiny little praying mantises swarming over her room, devouring each other at a rapid pace. Made clean-up easy.
Ahhhh, isn’t nature wonderful!?
I do like mantises. I was watching one on the brick pile out back, seemingly just hangin’ out, when a small flying insect came within range and the mantis snagged it on the fly and began to munch, as if it were a banana.
So yes, they’re charming in a way but–like I say about cats–they’re our friends because we’re too big for them to eat.
I love them, and I used to raise them. I would get the crickets at the pet store, and they would have the best feast. My favorites were the Orchid Mantis.
It’s PINK!!! 
When the the eldest Izzlets were the young ones, we used to study bugs. We’d sit out in the yard for hours at a time, just finding cool bugs and watching them. Then finding books about them, and learning all we could. It was a lot of fun, but I had to get over a LOT of my bug phobias for it. I was even to a point where I could actually get near spiders, and if they were small enough and not too icky looking, even hold them. We had one that lived at the base of our apple tree in a funnel type web that we’d feed crickets to. We would strategically place the cricket close to the entrance to it’s web, and it would dart out and snatch it. It was cool to watch. But the Mantises were the coolest. I woke up one morning to see one on the patio munching away at a grasshopper it had caught. They look like little aliens or something.
Unfortunately, the littlest Izzlets aren’t as much into bugs, so my phobias have resurfaced in a big way, especially concerning spiders. I do think they’re cool, in a way…so long as they are far away from me 
So yes, they’re charming in a way but–like I say about cats–they’re our friends because we’re too big for them to eat.
The movie “Alien” comes to mind. 
–James
No mantises in my little culdesac of Wyoming. 
We do have robber flies, however:
They play stealth fighter to the mantis’ tank, capturing prey–often critters larger than themselves–on the wing. They are completely harmless to humans, unless the human in question is a bee keeper.
And Izzy, some kinds even eat spiders.
These guys are actually kind of cute:
The [u]California Stink Beetle or Darkling Beetle[/u]. They’re so equisitely dumb and slow, like little moron clowns. Bumping into walls, trying to climb over impossibly large obstacles for minutes before giving up. And the headstands are cute, as long as you’re not behind them when they decide to let go. 
Any list of “cool” or “better” bugs has to include dragonflies. They eat mosquitoes. 
and Damselflies!
The better Bug:
Jet-powered Bug.
Couldn’t resist. 
–James
Inspired, no doubt, by:
I guess you don’t want to be standing behind that one either when it lets go.
Fartsagunnin.
Hey! This is my thread!! No talking about stuff like that.
Hey, you’re the one adding virtual sound effects.