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Saturday, September 28, 2013

A subspecies of the Praying Mantis disguises itself as a flower to trick insects!


The orchid mantis, like most other types of praying mantis, haven't been the subject of scientific study until recently.
Before we give you all the juicy details on that, we should mention that the orchid mantis was first spotted in 1879.
Australian journalist James Hingsley returned from his trip from Indonesia describing an orchid that consumed an entire butterfly. Much like the butterfly, Hingsley was fooled by the orchid mantis!
A very recent study by a handful of Australian scientists that took place in Indonesia discovered that orchid mantis is actually very capable of tricking pollinating insects that it is a part of the flower. The unsuspecting bug lands near the mantis, only to get eaten within a matter of seconds!
Researchers discovered that the orchid mantis doesn't look like a particular flower, it just resembles a color pattern of many different flowers, making it highly adaptable to it's surroundings!

Read more at http://www.omg-facts.com/#uDzVjgEa35moOEPz.99

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