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Orchid mantis

Jason Fried
Jason Fried wrote this on Jun 28 2008 16 comments

Jason Fried wrote this on Jun 28 2008 There are 16 comments.

Eric

on 28 Jun 08

That is so cool

Arthur

on 28 Jun 08

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

James Deer

on 28 Jun 08

Your pet?

Seth

on 28 Jun 08

I bet he gets all the chicks.

judy

on 28 Jun 08

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

Steve Rose

on 28 Jun 08

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?

Adam Kalsey

on 28 Jun 08

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

pam

on 28 Jun 08

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

Jake

on 29 Jun 08

That is fucking amazing.

Josh Lewis!

on 30 Jun 08

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

FredS

on 30 Jun 08

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

Ginsky

on 30 Jun 08

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.

john

on 30 Jun 08

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

Kirsten

on 30 Jun 08

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.

Dan Ackerson

on 01 Jul 08

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

Habeeba Nikhath

on 03 Jul 08

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…

This discussion is closed.

Jason Fried

About Jason Fried

Jason co-founded Basecamp back in 1999. He also co-authored REWORK, the New York Times bestselling book on running a "right-sized" business. Co-founded, co-authored... Can he do anything on his own?

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