The flower that hunts
Hymenopus coronatus looks so much like a flower that insects visit it. Here’s what the scientists who studied it found.
The orchid mantis has four back legs widened into flat ‘petals’, so it looks remarkably like a white flower. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis The flower look is strongest in young orchid mantises that haven’t grown wings yet. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis
Young orchid mantises may be white or pink, and blend in perfectly with orchid flowers. Natural History Museum, London: Small orders collection (Mantodea)
More popular than a real flower
In field experiments, lone orchid mantises attracted pollinating insects even more often than real flowers did, and caught them. O’Hanlon, Holwell & Herberstein 2014, The American Naturalist (peer-reviewed, via PubMed): Pollinator deception in the orchid mantis That 2014 study was the first experimental evidence for the idea, which had been discussed for more than a century. O’Hanlon, Holwell & Herberstein 2014, The American Naturalist (peer-reviewed, via PubMed): Pollinator deception in the orchid mantis
Not really an orchid
Despite the name, there’s no good evidence it copies an orchid, or any one particular flower: it looks like a general ‘flower’. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis It is the only animal known to take on the look of a whole flower blossom. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis
A hunter like the rest
Like other mantises, the orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) grabs its prey with its front legs and will eat many kinds of prey. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis
Where it lives
Orchid mantises have been reported across Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, Vietnam and southern China, but are rarely seen in the wild. O’Hanlon 2016, Current Biology quick guide: Orchid mantis
We haven’t found a public domain or CC0 photo of a real orchid mantis that we can be sure is labelled correctly, so there’s no photo here yet.
Next: egg case to adult →