Flower mantis

The flower mantises include the orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus, which mimics a rainforest orchid of southeast Asia to lure its prey, pollinator insects.[1]

Flower mantises are praying mantises that use a special form of camouflage referred to as aggressive mimicry, which they not only use to attract prey, but avoid predators as well. These insects have specific colorations and behaviors that mimic flowers in their surrounding habitats.[2]

This strategy has been observed in other mantises including the stick mantis and dead-leaf mantis.[2] The observed behavior of these mantises includes positioning themselves on a plant and either inserting themselves within the irradiance or on the foliage of the plants until a prey insect comes within range.[2]

Many species of flower mantises are popular as pets. The flower mantises are diurnal group with a single ancestry (a clade), but the majority of the known species belong to family Hymenopodidea.

  1. ^ Levine, Timothy R. (2014). Encyclopedia of Deception. SAGE Publications. p. 675. ISBN 978-1-4833-8898-4. In aggressive mimicry, the predator is "a wolf in sheep's clothing". Mimicry is used to appear harmless or even attractive to lure its prey.
  2. ^ a b c Mizuno, Takafumi; Yamaguchi, Susumu; Yamamoto, Ichiro; Yamaoka, Ryohei; Akino, Toshiharu (December 2014). ""Double-trick" visual and chemical mimicry by the juvenile orchid mantis hymenopus coronatus used in predation of the oriental honeybee apis cerana". Zoological Science. 31 (12): 795–801. doi:10.2108/zs140126. ISSN 0289-0003. PMID 25483791. S2CID 42791981.