Orchid Mantis by brewgirlca

Photography • Insects • posted on Feb 18, 2015

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Description

This lovely lady had finished molting just a few hours before and so she was in prime condition to pose for a photograph. I've been told that the museum where I took this shot is probably going to be using this image as part of their gallery display. Orchid Mantis's are native to the rain forests of South East Asia. Not only do they live on orchids, but they have evolved to look like parts of the flower. As you can see here they even have the same pale green and pinkish color as their host species. The mantis climbs around the branches of the orchid until it finds a flower that it feels it most resembles and than latches on with its hind legs. It sways in the breeze like the flower and snags unwary flies feeding on the nectar. It even has a dark spot on its belly to lure flies into thinking that one of their sisters has already landed on "the flower" and is feeding.

Comments (15)

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sociopath

9:56PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

Great shot of a beautiful subject.

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Faemike55

9:58PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

Very lovely and wickedly cool capture. Talk about adaptation... congrats on having this photo picked for the museum display

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LivingPixels

10:13PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

incredibly well produced capture and some cool info lovely work Roxy!!!

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Richardphotos

10:17PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

superb macro and I learned something unknown to me about this breed

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magnus073

10:21PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

Great work on this VERY lovely macro capture, Roxy. I also very much enjoyed the info you provided.

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photosynthesis

10:37PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

Great detail on the mantis & a fascinating evolutionary adaptation. I probably would have cropped out the blurry flower bulb on the right though...

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rhol_figament

11:32PM | Wed, 18 February 2015

The mantis is a great insect to get up close with, very expressive with those big wonderful eyes... :) So cool to see a different species rather than the familiar green one, thanks for a front row seat, Brew-Girl'tastic... ;)

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giubandph

1:06AM | Thu, 19 February 2015

Another interesting and beautiful macro vision of the nature, often micro and macro are so different from ours usual view that seems to come from another world !!

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mtdana

1:22AM | Thu, 19 February 2015

Very interesting shapes and color palette, I thought It was a wax carving at first, Also interesting how it evolved to match its environment. I can see why the museum is interested in displaying the image, it is very unique - superb capture!

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allnaydi

2:48AM | Thu, 19 February 2015

A very fascinating mantis, background information - and excellent capture.

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eekdog

5:15PM | Thu, 19 February 2015

the mantis is so cool and a creepy insect my friend, never seen a white one before. love the info you always provide, great capture of it dear, Roxy..

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adorety

7:39PM | Fri, 20 February 2015

Wow! Great and lucky timing. This is an excellent shot and would make a great addition to the museum.

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RodS

9:52PM | Fri, 20 February 2015

From spiders to mantises.... :-D I love a good mantis, and this is a beauty! You reall got a great shot, Roxy, and that's awesome that the museum is going to use it - way to go! I had a big one hanging out on my front window a few years ago - got a pretty decent shot of her: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2108626&user_id=638494&np&np I used to love playing with these as a kid - despite the fact that every now and then one of them would nail my finger with those spiked front arms.... I still thought they were pretty cool critters, and still do.

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