Orchid praying mantis

The orchid praying mantis is Asiatic in origin, its natural habitat being in Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia. It camouflages easily under tropical rainforest orchids thanks to its pastel colors. That appearance has two functions: it conceals the mantis from potential predators, and it fools the different pollinators the mantis feeds on by luring them and trapping them.

Breeding:

The male makes advances by drumming on the female’s thorax with its forelegs. He being about twice as small as the female, it sometimes happens that she feeds on him during mating (which takes between 24 and 36 hours). But that behavior is infrequent.

Fifteen days after mating, the female deposits an ootheca consisting of between 25 and 50 eggs. In the weeks that follow she produces as many as four other oothecae.