Flamboyance Personified
When a spiny flower mantis assumes this posture, it is hard to imagine an insect looking any flashier. But although this flamboyant appearance might seem attractive to us, it’s actually an attempt to ward off predators or competitors for prey.
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When a spiny flower mantis assumes this posture, it is hard to imagine an insect looking any flashier. But although this flamboyant appearance might seem attractive to us, it’s actually an attempt to ward off predators or competitors for prey.
What am I looking at?
This is a spiny flower mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergi), an insect native to southern and eastern Africa, in the midst of engaging in a threat display. You can see how it spreads its legs (1), extends its wings (2), and shows off the large eyespots shaped like a number “9” on its front wings (3).
Biology in the background
To capture prey and avoid predation, mantises blend in with their surroundings and wait for their prey to approach within striking distance. Their talent for camouflage is remarkable. Some mantises can mimic blades of grass, clumps of moss, or lichens. Others can disguise themselves as twigs or green or dry leaves – not only changing their body coloration and shape, but also swaying as if in a breeze to really sell the illusion. As for spiny flower mantises, they resemble flowers. The flanges and spikes covering their bodies blur their outlines and contours, helping them blend with their surroundings.
But those measures may not be sufficient when they’re confronted with the acute senses of their predators. For such occasions, these mantises have a backup defensive strategy: a threatening display that often involves taking a very dramatic and flamboyant form. While at rest with its wings folded, this mantis displays an alternating pattern of green and white. But when threatened, it spreads its legs and wings to show off its very large eyespots (also called false eyes) on its wings. These eyespots can be mistaken for actual eyes by a predator, making the mantis seem much larger than it is and hopefully fooling the predator into giving up.
At the nymph stage, a spiny flower mantis is wingless. But even the nymph has a single bulging eyespot, made of specialized segments, on the top – or dorsal – side of its abdomen. Click on the right arrow to see some additional views of this mantis.
A spiny flower mantis can grow up to 40 millimeters long, or roughly 1.5 times the size of a human thumbnail.
Technique
These images were created using macrophotography.
TagsIgor Siwanowicz, HHMI's Janelia Research Campus