FAKING IT A female orchid mantis does a near-perfect floral imitation, fanning out her petallike legs as she clings to a twig.
Roger Meerts/Shutterstock
20 comments:
Juliet
said...
I think this article was extremely fascinating. When I first read the title I thought: "Well what is so interesting about that?" Turns out, everything. This is a mantis that lures it's prey to it by looking almost exactly like an orchid. They have essentially petals on their legs, and their abdomen is mottled to look like an orchid's. They don't stay still, but move back and forth like a petal in the wind, further convincing it's prey that it is indeed a flower. I think that everything about these bugs in fascinating, but I don't think that we should try to capture too many, because if scientists are right that this is really rare, we might wipe out an entire species of mantises, which would not be a good thing. I think that these bugs must have evolved over a long long period of time to look the way they do and that they must still be always evolving, just like the flowers they impersonate. I looked at some other pictures of them and saw how many different colors and patterns they come in. It's amazing! I think that these bugs are truly on to something.
I thought this was a great article. It really is interesting to think about the way that they have adapted over time. However, I thought it was more interesting to find out why they adapted in this way when other mantis species did not. I thought that this might do with where they lived, and it turns out that Malaysia has many different species of unique orchids, so it makes a great choice for this mantis. In fact, this species is not the only species of mantis to have adapted to appear as a plant. Depending on their environment, many mantis species have developed unique shapes, such as the Spiny Flower mantis, from Kenya, and the Giant Devil's Flower mantis of Tanzania. I also wanted to bring up another point. The article mentions the theory that tricks (such as the one played by the orchid mantis to lure predators in), should be rare to make sure that the victims are unsuspecting. Yet another website stated that it is extremely difficult to get out of a mantis' spiny hooks once it has caught you, and therefore, the victim should be dead before it has time to learn how to avoid it. If they are speaking about how the species of victims avoid it, it is unlikely that they will ever realize what a danger it is before it gets eaten. One last point: I was inspecting the picture at the top, and it said that it was a picture of a female mantis. When I researched the difference between male and female mantises, a couple of articles stated some distinct differences; females generally have a larger body, thinner antennae, and only six segments along their bodies. The males, on the other hand, are smaller, with thicker antennae, and eight segments along their bodies. When I was researching this, I also came upon an article that stated that orchid mantises are always pink, white or a mix of those two colors, and a mantis can change colors according to the environment around it. Though I am still unclear, after researching this new bit of information, if it is true or not, this species would be even more fascinating if it was. In the end, this was a great article, and I would like to find out more about this tricky type of mantis.
Before this article I never knew that there was a but that was so beautiful. They are such facinating bugs that come in a variaty of colors pink, purple, and yellow. What facinated me the most was that I thought that how they swayed in the wind to mimic a flower. They pay close attention to flowers so not to look like a bug but rather look like a flower. It is like they are able to do what they do carelessly. Orchid mantis' are also extremely rare and I think that people should learn more about them so that we are able to protect them. They have adapted so well to be able to fit in with the environment and I think that they will continue to evolve until they practically look like an orchid. To help them blend in with the surroundings they have flaps on their legs so they look like petals. I rate this article a 9 because I thought that it was facinating and I liked watching the videos.
This is one of the most awesomest article in the world! When I first looked at the picture, I thought that it was a normal flower. But when I realized that it was a preying mantis, my hear stopped. It was so amazing how the could desgise themselves like that. When I saw the video of the preying mantis, I thought about how easy it would be do get their food. This is a very cool and unique way for a insect to get it's food. It was also amazing how their colors were formed on them. This is actually my favorite article in the world. I would defnitly rate this on a scale of 1 to 10, a 10. I chose a 10 because it extremly intresting and fascinating.
I find it mind-boggling that these orchid mantises have evolved to look like flowers that do not exist but are even prettier than many real flowers. As the article states, this can make it very difficult and maybe even impossible to identify. Every single time you would see a flower, you would think it was a mantis. Then you look closer and realize that it is just an ordinary flower. This process would then repeat with the next "mantis". The real mantises would be busy luring in unsuspecting pollinators which would fly towards the supposed flower and then SNAP! the mantis would pull them in and eat them. They would devour their prey - which could be as big as three times their size - in the blink of an eye. Surprisingly, the orchid mantis attracts more pollinators than the average flower does. It even fooled an Australian journalist named James Hingsley who described it as a flower that catches and then eats live flies. I find the orchid mantis fascinating as it has evolved so much to be a better predator.
If I were to have a bouquet of flowers vs. a bouquet of flower-like preying mantises, I would chose the mantises. They are so AWSOME!!! It is so cool how they have evolved to look like flowers en then they eat the unfortunate flies that hapen to come into their reach. I just found this article so awsome and I really want to find a flower-like mantis.
I think that it is amazing that orchid mantises have lived for so long. At the same time, it is the most disgusting in the whole entire world! It looks exactly like a praying mantis. I also agree with everything Juliet says. When I first read the article, I didn't even know that it was a bug. I hate all types of bugs, but this one was beautiful
I agree with rachel. Although it creeps me out it is beautiful. It is insane that they have evolved to look even prettier that a flower and also sway in the breeze just like one. I did not know that the picture was a bug I thought it was a regular flower. When I get my first corsage I will make sure to check if it is a mantis!!!
This was an amazing article because you can really see how smart other creatures are. They evolved to have special hunting mechanisms which is really cool. They sit on a colored flower, mask the color and and sometimes burry themselves inside of the flower. They can even mask the change from the color of the flower to white. This was super cool because we barley knew about this species and it is so cool that we can learn about something new. If you watched the videos like I did, you can see some really cool footage of the animals. It was very interesting to stay still and watch their pray, their quickly grasp a hold of the prey. They even swayed in the wind to truly make themselves look like the flower. I highly recommend this article because it make you so interested about a topic we know so little about. I was so intrigued and thought that it would be funny if a guy gave his date a corsage that actually could bite. :)
I really enjoyed this article. This is a very intelligent creature. It fools prey into thinking it's an orchid! To me when I first saw the picture I wondered "What if I had given someone orchids with one of these mantis' on them!" I would really like to see one in person. I always had an interest in bugs. This is a very beautiful bug and it is now one of my favorites!
I think this is very cool. It's like a whole new Venus Fly Trap! Being so well disguised as a orchid is like one of those things where you see something good, but then something bad happens. well actually it is one of those things. However though, if Orchid Mantises are always pink, it will be very easy for scientists and Entomologists to perk out. It is a really great, and kind of fun way to seek out prey. I still dont get though how 1. a mantis could have petals on its legs, and two how could it's abdomen look like a orchid when the creature itself is army green.
I found this article amazing! We all know that animals camouflage, but I never knew an insect camouflage to eat bugs! I loved how its able to mimic an orchid and look almost exactly like it to the point where even humans will mistake it as an orchid. Mantises can stay still once they've settled down and blended into their surroundings, but will sway with the flower if there is wind blowing it. It uses its incredible ability to its advantage by waiting for a bug to come near the flower it is perched on and then t will consume the unfortunate victim. What I don't understand is why they the article mentions how they attract bus better than the orchid itself. How is that possible? I researched and found that not much is known about how it can attract so well. I gathered bits and pieces and noticed that their unique ability to look like an orchid, yet still be a orchid mantis makes the mantis more attractive! I mulled over this until I realized that the orchid mantis stills has an outlining of its body so we can still see it after a moment of looking closely. These difference may attract the insects without knowing that it is flying to its death and will be eaten alive. This is proven because if the mantis alone is compared to an orchid, it will still attract more bugs than the orchid would of. This is beyond fascinating and I cannot wait till scientists are able to figure out this creature's secret. If you don't think bugs are spectacular and pretty amazing, then look up one of these and it will change the way you look at them.
Wow! First of all, I have to admit that when I first saw the cover picture for this article, I thought it was a real orchid that had similar properties to a venus flytrap. When I dove into the article, I was happily surprised. It turns out that this insect is a type of mantis that has evolved to look very similar to a real orchid, yet scientists have not been able to find which orchid species it looks like, if any. I find it amazing, beautiful, and utterly frightening all at the same time. After watching the videos provided at the bottom of the article, I developed a newfound respect for the wonders of nature. It was fascinating how the mantis would sit on a twig or branch and even sway in the wind just like a real flower (I wonder if it purposely does this or if it just relaxes and lets itself sway?) then when prey comes near, it statches it up in a split second. I also marvel at the fact that these mantises attract more prey than real flowers, when they don't even look like a real type of orchid. This is a great article. I would give it a 9/10 because of the lack of description on how they catch they prey, but the writer still included a sufficient amount of information.
I think that the mantis species is entirely underrated. There are about 208 species of mantis (if this fact is wrong, blame wikipedia and my conscious for researching there), if not more, and the orchid mantis is just one of those fascinating types of creatures. Other mantis species can also camouflage (not to mention are a bit terrifying), like the Thistle mantis, pink flower mantis, dead leaf mantis, leaf mantis, stick mantis, moss mimicking mantis, and white orchid mantis, just to name a few.
I think that it is interesting that this mantis has generated more bugs that regular flowers. This is amazing that a bug can evolve to look like a regular flower, and then can be even better and more attractive than a flower
I think we can all agree that this article was incredibly amazing. It's really cool to learn that these insects, no matter how small, can evolve to look like such specific and detailed flowers. It is also interesting to know that these Orchid Mantises are sneaky enough to be able to trick even the smartest and most observant scientists into thinking that they're flowers! I do have one question, though. How DID they involve into such detailed flowers? Did they see the flowers and then tell themselves "Okay, this is the flower I want myself to look like" with specific dots in specific places, etc.?
That's really cool! At first I thought it was a flower that could bite, for example a venus fly trap, but it is actually a mantis discuised as a flower. I never knew that mantis's could be those types of colors, and they can hide from predators when they come. This is an amazing insect and I would like to know more about it, how it was made, and the differences from a normal praying mantis.
I think this article was really interesting. This rare animal is really cool. It is a mantis, but it looks like a flower. So, when insects try to eat its pollen, this bug eats the other bug. I was watching the video and it was really fascinating. This animal is really smart to hide in plain sight and wait for the food to come to it. Also, I wonder how it evolved to become like this. It must have taken millions of years, but how did it become like this? It is a real mystery for me.
I found this article very interesting. It is incredible how a mantis is able to imitate a normal flower. The article mentioned that a mantis was so successful at pretending to be a flower that it even fooled an Australian journalist into believing it was an orchid. This, to me, seems very amazing. Before reading this article, I had never even heard about an orchid mantis. I hope to research this unique species further.
Earlier, I said that I wanted to research the orchid mantis, so now I would like to post what I found. First, the orchid mantis, also known as Hymenopus coronatus, has a very unique appearance. When fully mature, a female orchid mantis is six to seven centimeters long. However, a fully mature male orchid mantis only reaches two to five centimeters long. Because they are smaller, a male orchid mantis will grow to its full length and become fully mature before a female. Like in size, male and female orchid mantises are different colors. A male orchid mantis has a pink and orange body with long white wings. It also has fewer lobes on its legs. A female’s color is not consistent and can change. In addition, a female has large lobes on its legs. These lobes, found on both male and female’s legs, look uniquely like flower petals. A female orchid mantis also has a green spot on her back, where as a male has more of a brown spot. Using a spectrophotometer, scientists realized that, from an insect’s perspective, the color of an orchid mantis is similar to flowers found in Malaysia, where this specie lives. Though an orchid mantis’s appearance is very special, it is not the only thing about it that is interesting. This animal also exhibits very unusual behavior. For the most part, a female orchid mantis is quiet and patient. She usually stays still and waits for an insect to come to her. Sometimes, though, she does hunt after a bug, if she can locate it. The male orchid mantis, on the other hand, is a lot more action oriented, and can be described as “hyperactive”. If caught off guard, the male orchid mantis will do its best to fly away. An orchid mantis also has a special habitat that it prefers. Found in Malaysia, this species usually lives near small trees and bushes. This habitat helps the orchid mantis look just like another plant. Its habitat also gives the animals protection from birds and other predators. In conclusion, orchid mantises are truly amazing, interesting, and clever species. In fact, they are the only animal species known to mimic a plant. They are a great species, and it is so important to learn more about them.
20 comments:
I think this article was extremely fascinating. When I first read the title I thought: "Well what is so interesting about that?" Turns out, everything. This is a mantis that lures it's prey to it by looking almost exactly like an orchid. They have essentially petals on their legs, and their abdomen is mottled to look like an orchid's. They don't stay still, but move back and forth like a petal in the wind, further convincing it's prey that it is indeed a flower. I think that everything about these bugs in fascinating, but I don't think that we should try to capture too many, because if scientists are right that this is really rare, we might wipe out an entire species of mantises, which would not be a good thing. I think that these bugs must have evolved over a long long period of time to look the way they do and that they must still be always evolving, just like the flowers they impersonate. I looked at some other pictures of them and saw how many different colors and patterns they come in. It's amazing! I think that these bugs are truly on to something.
I thought this was a great article. It really is interesting to think about the way that they have adapted over time. However, I thought it was more interesting to find out why they adapted in this way when other mantis species did not. I thought that this might do with where they lived, and it turns out that Malaysia has many different species of unique orchids, so it makes a great choice for this mantis. In fact, this species is not the only species of mantis to have adapted to appear as a plant. Depending on their environment, many mantis species have developed unique shapes, such as the Spiny Flower mantis, from Kenya, and the Giant Devil's Flower mantis of Tanzania. I also wanted to bring up another point. The article mentions the theory that tricks (such as the one played by the orchid mantis to lure predators in), should be rare to make sure that the victims are unsuspecting. Yet another website stated that it is extremely difficult to get out of a mantis' spiny hooks once it has caught you, and therefore, the victim should be dead before it has time to learn how to avoid it. If they are speaking about how the species of victims avoid it, it is unlikely that they will ever realize what a danger it is before it gets eaten. One last point: I was inspecting the picture at the top, and it said that it was a picture of a female mantis. When I researched the difference between male and female mantises, a couple of articles stated some distinct differences; females generally have a larger body, thinner antennae, and only six segments along their bodies. The males, on the other hand, are smaller, with thicker antennae, and eight segments along their bodies. When I was researching this, I also came upon an article that stated that orchid mantises are always pink, white or a mix of those two colors, and a mantis can change colors according to the environment around it. Though I am still unclear, after researching this new bit of information, if it is true or not, this species would be even more fascinating if it was. In the end, this was a great article, and I would like to find out more about this tricky type of mantis.
Before this article I never knew that there was a but that was so beautiful. They are such facinating bugs that come in a variaty of colors pink, purple, and yellow. What facinated me the most was that I thought that how they swayed in the wind to mimic a flower. They pay close attention to flowers so not to look like a bug but rather look like a flower. It is like they are able to do what they do carelessly. Orchid mantis' are also extremely rare and I think that people should learn more about them so that we are able to protect them. They have adapted so well to be able to fit in with the environment and I think that they will continue to evolve until they practically look like an orchid. To help them blend in with the surroundings they have flaps on their legs so they look like petals. I rate this article a 9 because I thought that it was facinating and I liked watching the videos.
This is one of the most awesomest article in the world! When I first looked at the picture, I thought that it was a normal flower. But when I realized that it was a preying mantis, my hear stopped. It was so amazing how the could desgise themselves like that. When I saw the video of the preying mantis, I thought about how easy it would be do get their food. This is a very cool and unique way for a insect to get it's food. It was also amazing how their colors were formed on them. This is actually my favorite article in the world. I would defnitly rate this on a scale of 1 to 10, a 10. I chose a 10 because it extremly intresting and fascinating.
I find it mind-boggling that these orchid mantises have evolved to look like flowers that do not exist but are even prettier than many real flowers. As the article states, this can make it very difficult and maybe even impossible to identify. Every single time you would see a flower, you would think it was a mantis. Then you look closer and realize that it is just an ordinary flower. This process would then repeat with the next "mantis". The real mantises would be busy luring in unsuspecting pollinators which would fly towards the supposed flower and then SNAP! the mantis would pull them in and eat them. They would devour their prey - which could be as big as three times their size - in the blink of an eye. Surprisingly, the orchid mantis attracts more pollinators than the average flower does. It even fooled an Australian journalist named James Hingsley who described it as a flower that catches and then eats live flies. I find the orchid mantis fascinating as it has evolved so much to be a better predator.
If I were to have a bouquet of flowers vs. a bouquet of flower-like preying mantises, I would chose the mantises. They are so AWSOME!!! It is so cool how they have evolved to look like flowers en then they eat the unfortunate flies that hapen to come into their reach. I just found this article so awsome and I really want to find a flower-like mantis.
I think that it is amazing that orchid mantises have lived for so long. At the same time, it is the most disgusting in the whole entire world! It looks exactly like a praying mantis. I also agree with everything Juliet says. When I first read the article, I didn't even know that it was a bug. I hate all types of bugs, but this one was beautiful
I agree with rachel. Although it creeps me out it is beautiful. It is insane that they have evolved to look even prettier that a flower and also sway in the breeze just like one. I did not know that the picture was a bug I thought it was a regular flower. When I get my first corsage I will make sure to check if it is a mantis!!!
This was an amazing article because you can really see how smart other creatures are. They evolved to have special hunting mechanisms which is really cool. They sit on a colored flower, mask the color and and sometimes burry themselves inside of the flower. They can even mask the change from the color of the flower to white. This was super cool because we barley knew about this species and it is so cool that we can learn about something new. If you watched the videos like I did, you can see some really cool footage of the animals. It was very interesting to stay still and watch their pray, their quickly grasp a hold of the prey. They even swayed in the wind to truly make themselves look like the flower. I highly recommend this article because it make you so interested about a topic we know so little about. I was so intrigued and thought that it would be funny if a guy gave his date a corsage that actually could bite. :)
I really enjoyed this article. This is a very intelligent creature. It fools prey into thinking it's an orchid! To me when I first saw the picture I wondered "What if I had given someone orchids with one of these mantis' on them!" I would really like to see one in person. I always had an interest in bugs. This is a very beautiful bug and it is now one of my favorites!
I think this is very cool. It's like a whole new Venus Fly Trap! Being so well disguised as a orchid is like one of those things where you see something good, but then something bad happens. well actually it is one of those things. However though, if Orchid Mantises are always pink, it will be very easy for scientists and Entomologists to perk out. It is a really great, and kind of fun way to seek out prey. I still dont get though how 1. a mantis could have petals on its legs, and two how could it's abdomen look like a orchid when the creature itself is army green.
I found this article amazing! We all know that animals camouflage, but I never knew an insect camouflage to eat bugs! I loved how its able to mimic an orchid and look almost exactly like it to the point where even humans will mistake it as an orchid. Mantises can stay still once they've settled down and blended into their surroundings, but will sway with the flower if there is wind blowing it. It uses its incredible ability to its advantage by waiting for a bug to come near the flower it is perched on and then t will consume the unfortunate victim. What I don't understand is why they the article mentions how they attract bus better than the orchid itself. How is that possible? I researched and found that not much is known about how it can attract so well. I gathered bits and pieces and noticed that their unique ability to look like an orchid, yet still be a orchid mantis makes the mantis more attractive! I mulled over this until I realized that the orchid mantis stills has an outlining of its body so we can still see it after a moment of looking closely. These difference may attract the insects without knowing that it is flying to its death and will be eaten alive. This is proven because if the mantis alone is compared to an orchid, it will still attract more bugs than the orchid would of. This is beyond fascinating and I cannot wait till scientists are able to figure out this creature's secret. If you don't think bugs are spectacular and pretty amazing, then look up one of these and it will change the way you look at them.
Wow! First of all, I have to admit that when I first saw the cover picture for this article, I thought it was a real orchid that had similar properties to a venus flytrap. When I dove into the article, I was happily surprised. It turns out that this insect is a type of mantis that has evolved to look very similar to a real orchid, yet scientists have not been able to find which orchid species it looks like, if any. I find it amazing, beautiful, and utterly frightening all at the same time. After watching the videos provided at the bottom of the article, I developed a newfound respect for the wonders of nature. It was fascinating how the mantis would sit on a twig or branch and even sway in the wind just like a real flower (I wonder if it purposely does this or if it just relaxes and lets itself sway?) then when prey comes near, it statches it up in a split second. I also marvel at the fact that these mantises attract more prey than real flowers, when they don't even look like a real type of orchid. This is a great article. I would give it a 9/10 because of the lack of description on how they catch they prey, but the writer still included a sufficient amount of information.
I think that the mantis species is entirely underrated. There are about 208 species of mantis (if this fact is wrong, blame wikipedia and my conscious for researching there), if not more, and the orchid mantis is just one of those fascinating types of creatures. Other mantis species can also camouflage (not to mention are a bit terrifying), like the Thistle mantis, pink flower mantis, dead leaf mantis, leaf mantis, stick mantis, moss mimicking mantis, and white orchid mantis, just to name a few.
I think that it is interesting that this mantis has generated more bugs that regular flowers. This is amazing that a bug can evolve to look like a regular flower, and then can be even better and more attractive than a flower
I think we can all agree that this article was incredibly amazing. It's really cool to learn that these insects, no matter how small, can evolve to look like such specific and detailed flowers. It is also interesting to know that these Orchid Mantises are sneaky enough to be able to trick even the smartest and most observant scientists into thinking that they're flowers! I do have one question, though. How DID they involve into such detailed flowers? Did they see the flowers and then tell themselves "Okay, this is the flower I want myself to look like" with specific dots in specific places, etc.?
That's really cool! At first I thought it was a flower that could bite, for example a venus fly trap, but it is actually a mantis discuised as a flower. I never knew that mantis's could be those types of colors, and they can hide from predators when they come. This is an amazing insect and I would like to know more about it, how it was made, and the differences from a normal praying mantis.
I think this article was really interesting. This rare animal is really cool. It is a mantis, but it looks like a flower. So, when insects try to eat its pollen, this bug eats the other bug. I was watching the video and it was really fascinating. This animal is really smart to hide in plain sight and wait for the food to come to it. Also, I wonder how it evolved to become like this. It must have taken millions of years, but how did it become like this? It is a real mystery for me.
I found this article very interesting. It is incredible how a mantis is able to imitate a normal flower. The article mentioned that a mantis was so successful at pretending to be a flower that it even fooled an Australian journalist into believing it was an orchid. This, to me, seems very amazing. Before reading this article, I had never even heard about an orchid mantis. I hope to research this unique species further.
Earlier, I said that I wanted to research the orchid mantis, so now I would like to post what I found. First, the orchid mantis, also known as Hymenopus coronatus, has a very unique appearance. When fully mature, a female orchid mantis is six to seven centimeters long. However, a fully mature male orchid mantis only reaches two to five centimeters long. Because they are smaller, a male orchid mantis will grow to its full length and become fully mature before a female. Like in size, male and female orchid mantises are different colors. A male orchid mantis has a pink and orange body with long white wings. It also has fewer lobes on its legs. A female’s color is not consistent and can change. In addition, a female has large lobes on its legs. These lobes, found on both male and female’s legs, look uniquely like flower petals. A female orchid mantis also has a green spot on her back, where as a male has more of a brown spot. Using a spectrophotometer, scientists realized that, from an insect’s perspective, the color of an orchid mantis is similar to flowers found in Malaysia, where this specie lives.
Though an orchid mantis’s appearance is very special, it is not the only thing about it that is interesting. This animal also exhibits very unusual behavior. For the most part, a female orchid mantis is quiet and patient. She usually stays still and waits for an insect to come to her. Sometimes, though, she does hunt after a bug, if she can locate it. The male orchid mantis, on the other hand, is a lot more action oriented, and can be described as “hyperactive”. If caught off guard, the male orchid mantis will do its best to fly away.
An orchid mantis also has a special habitat that it prefers. Found in Malaysia, this species usually lives near small trees and bushes. This habitat helps the orchid mantis look just like another plant. Its habitat also gives the animals protection from birds and other predators. In conclusion, orchid mantises are truly amazing, interesting, and clever species. In fact, they are the only animal species known to mimic a plant. They are a great species, and it is so important to learn more about them.
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