5 Interesting Facts About Orchid Mantises

Here is a beautiful orchid mantis waiting to ambush its prey

Today I want to write about a very pretty insect that is actually a deadly predator, the orchid mantis.

Here are five interesting facts about them:

1. These beautiful looking insects grow up to 7 cm long.
2. The females are almost twice as large as the males.
3. They get their name because they look like orchids.  They use their camouflage to hide so that they can ambush their prey, which includes other insects and even baby orchid mantises.  Their disguise is so effective that flying insects are more attracted to the mantises than the flowers that they imitate.
4. At breeding time, the females lay a cluster of about 50-100 eggs.  The babies are called nymphs and they are red and black when they first hatch.  They turn pink and white after their first moult.
5. Orchid mantises are found in the rain forests of Malaysia and Indonesia.

I hope that you found these facts interesting and learned something new.

Are there any other interesting facts that you would like to share about orchid mantises?