Flower mantis

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Flower mantises are those species of praying mantis that mimic flowers. Their coloration is an example of aggressive mimicry, a form of camouflage in which a predator's colours and patterns lure prey. Most species of flower mantis are in the family Hymenopodidae. Their behaviour varies, but typically involves climbing a plant, and then staying still until a prey insect comes within range. Many species of flower mantis are popular as pets.

The orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, of southeast Asia mimics an orchid flower. It remains motionless on the plant until prey arrive; the same camouflage also protects it from predators. In his 1940 book Adaptive Coloration in Animals, Hugh Cott quotes an account by Nelson Annandale, saying that the mantis hunts on the flowers of the "Straits Rhododendron", Melastoma polyanthum. The nymph has what Cott calls "Special Alluring Coloration" (aggressive mimicry), where the animal itself is the "decoy". The insect is pink and white, with flattened limbs with "that semi-opalescent, semi-crystalline appearance that is caused in flower-petals by a purely structural arrangement of liquid globules or empty cells". The mantis climbs up the twigs of the plant and stands imitating a flower and waits for her prey patiently. It then sways from side to side, and soon various small flies land on and around it, attracted by the small black spot on the end of its abdomen which resembles a fly. When a larger dipteran fly, as big as a house fly, landed nearby, the mantis at once seized and ate it. More recently (2015), the orchid mantis's coloration has been shown to be an effective mimic of tropical flowers; and it has been demonstrated to attract pollinators (as if it were a flower) and then to catch them.

Video Flower mantis

Example species

The flower mantises include the following species, many of which are popularly kept as pets:

Maps Flower mantis

See also

• List of mantis genera and species

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References

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Bibliography

• Cott, Hugh B. (1940). Adaptive Coloration in Animals. Methuen, London.
• Gullan, PJ; Cranston, PS (2010). The Insects: An Outline of Entomology. Wiley (4th edition).
• Wickler, Wolfgang (1968). Mimicry in plants and animals. McGraw-Hill, New York.

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