Hymenopus coronatus
Hymenopus coronatus is a mantis from the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. It is known by various common names including walking flower mantis and (pink) orchid mantis. It is one of several species known as flower mantises from their resemblance and behaviour. They are known to grab their prey with blinding speed. Description. This species mimics parts of the orchid flower. The four walking legs resemble flower petals, and the toothed front pair is used as in other mantises for grasping prey. "H. coronatus" shows some of the most pronounced size sexual dimorphism of any species of mantis ; males can be less than half the size of females. The female predatory selection is the likely driving force behind the development of the extreme sexual size dimorphism. Prior to development of its camouflage, the female mantis implements ambush predation to allow it to hunt larger pollinating insects. An example of this ambush predation is the orchid mantis's ability to ambush foraging butterflies, a fairly large prey, which it captures using its pair of toothed arms and powerful bite. As the female orchid continues to develop, much of its dramatic increase in size can be attributed to predatory selection  and ambush predation. First-stage nymphs mimic bugs of the family Reduviidae, which have a powerful bite and are foul-tasting. The mantis can change its colour between pink and brown, according to the colour of the background. Distribution. "H. coronatus" is found in the rain forests of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia. It is also found in the Western Ghats of India. Behaviour. Hugh Cott quotes an account by Nelson Annandale of "Hymenopus coronatus" which he reports hunts on the flowers of the "Straits Rhododendron", "Melastoma polyanthum". The nymph has what Cott calls "Special Alluring  Coloration", where the animal itself is the "decoy". The insect is pink and white, with flattened limbs with "that semi-opalescent, semi-crystalline appearance that is caused in flower-petals by a purely structural arrangement of liquid globules or empty cells". The mantis climbs up and down the twigs of the plant until it finds one that has flowers. It holds on to these with the claws of its two rearmost pairs of legs. It then sways from side to side, and soon various small flies land on and around it, attracted by the small black spot on the end  of its abdomen which resembles a fly. When a larger Dipteran fly, as big as a house fly, landed nearby, the mantis at once seized and ate it. The species is reported by Costa, quoting Shelford's 1903 account, to show parental care by guarding the eggs. Costa asks rhetorically "Why has so little [research] been done on parental care in mantids, such an unexpected and intriguing aspect of their behavior?" The camouflage of the orchid mantis probably deceives potential predators, as well as serving as aggressive mimicry of the orchid to help catch insect prey. Diet. The species is  carnivorous, mainly catching other insects. In the laboratory, it prefers lepidopteran prey. Its diet consists of small insects, including crickets, flies, fruit flies, beetles, and stinging insects such as bees. Some are cannibalistic, eating their own siblings when one strays too close. In human culture. History. Alfred Russel Wallace in his 1889 book "Darwinism", calls the mantis rare: The drawing was published in Edward Bagnall Poulton's book "The Colours of Animals". Poulton calls it an "Indian Mantis" which "feeds upon other insects, which it attracts by its flower-like shape and pink colour. The apparent petals are the flattened  legs of the insect." Breeding. The orchid mantis is favoured by insect breeders, but is extremely rare, so is also extremely expensive.