Praying Mantis, Nationals’ Victor Robles Get Friendly In Outfield

WASHINGTON, DC — Bugs have commandeered their fair share of the spotlight in recent months. From Mike Pence’s fly during the vice presidential debate to the cicada dive-bombing Joe Biden on a D.C. tarmac, it shouldn't surprise anyone that a praying mantis couldn’t wait to make its debut in the limelight of a recent Washington Nationals baseball game.

The insect’s unsuspecting companion: Nationals centerfielder Victor Robles.

It was the ninth inning of the Aug. 2 game between the Nationals and the Phillies. Robles was sitting in the dugout when a guest went to bat right on top of his baseball cap.

What made it a home run, though, was when the mantis stayed put even when Robles left the dugout to take his position on the field.

Two Phillies batters later, the mantis was still there, camped out on the hat’s brim. Was it praying, perhaps, for Robles to make a great catch?

Robles took it in stride, making the best of it even as he communicated with other players — including the mantis.

This is hardly the first time an insect has stolen the spotlight on national television.

During last year’s vice presidential debate, a common housefly made its home on now-former Vice President Mike Pence’s head, remaining in the snow-white nest for 2 minutes and 3 seconds during its host's back-and-forth with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Pence didn’t notice — or, perhaps, acknowledge — the fly, but that didn’t stop the insect from giving birth to countless memes and inspiring plenty of fodder for late-night monologues.

In June, it was President Joe Biden’s turn as he waited to board Air Force One. Swarms of Brood X cicadas whizzed back and forth across the tarmac, and as television crews filmed Biden, they captured the fateful moment he reached up and swatted at his neck.

Cicadas were on the attack.

"Watch out for those cicadas," he told reporters. "It got me."

RELATED: 'It Got Me': Late-Night Hosts Swat At Biden, Buzzed By Cicada

Neither cicadas nor flies will do harm, but what about praying mantis? They, too, are harmless, according to National Geographic.

The non-venomous praying mantis is named for its prominent front legs, which are bent and held together at an angle that makes it look as if the insect is praying. They are typically green or brown in color.

While they’re formidable predators, a praying mantis primarily eats moths, crickets, grasshoppers, flies and other insects. They are also known to eat frogs, lizards and small birds.

It's unclear if the praying mantis was one of the cannibalistic species known for violent mating rituals in which the females bite off the heads and eat other body parts of the male after mating— behavior National Geographic says "may be just a tad overstated."