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Meet orchid mantis, the predator that pretends to be a flower
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The Indian Express
When you spy what looks like a delicate orchid waving in the breeze in a Southeast Asian rainforest, pause; chances are, you’ve stumbled upon the orchid mantis.
With flattened femurs that fan out like petals, its soft swaying mimics floral movements so convincingly that hovering insects simply can’t resist coming closer.
These mantises are masters of aggressive mimicry, a cunning trick where a predator pretends to look harmless to trick prey into coming closer.
In the orchid mantis’s case, it masquerades as a blossom both visually and, in juvenile stages, chemically.
Some young mantises even mimic honeybee pheromones to lure buzzing bees.