That is so cool

Did anyone else think of the movie Adaptation and those shots of flowers who evolve to be paired up with bees?

Your pet?

I bet he gets all the chicks.

Those orchid photos are superb. Can you say what camera and settings and did you edit them in photoshop?

Marvelous. I’m wondering why a flower would evolve to have an apparent insect predator right in the middle of it. What survival benefit would that provide?

Steve: That’s not a flower that looks like a mantis. It’s an actual mantis inside the flower.

The Orchid Mantis is easily the most well-known and popular mantis pet in the world! They are different colors at different ages. As 1st instar hatchlings, they resemble ants with black bodies and red legs. After they shed their skin one time (2nd instar), they become white. After a few molts (sheds), males gradually gain a brownish-purple “necklace”, while females’ necklaces turn green. Other than that, sexing Orchid Mantises is the same as for all mantids…females have six abdominal segments; males eight.

http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/hymenopus_coronatus.html

That is fucking amazing.

@Steve Rose, My assumption is that the mantis evolved to hide in the flower, not that the flower evolved to help the mantis.

In action: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CFM61hNjND4

Incredible protective coloration on that first shot – had a hard time locating the mantis! Awesome shots and my first exposure to this particular variety of mantis.

she is beautiful! I love how alien the mantis looks.

Whoa, how incredible! Thanks for the info, Pam; I was wondering if they had chameleon-like qualities or if this one matched that particular orchid so precisely by chance.

Nature’s designs are the ultimate in usability and simplicity. :P

At first I thought the flower resembled the mantis. Then in the subsequent picture the mantis was staring back at me, daring me to deny its existence… I had to give in…