Devil's flower: the life of this praying mantis is like a space horror movie (11 photos)

If you want to hide your death, hide it in something beautiful. Poison at the bottom of a glass of ruby ​​wine. A stiletto under the hem of a weightless robe. A destructive idea behind speeches about the sublime. A devil's flower among the most beautiful flowers of tropical Africa.





The devil's flower is close to the title of the largest praying mantis on the planet. As long as a child's palm, graceful and flexible, it sways slightly on four supporting legs, echoing the gusts of wind. You will never guess where the killer is hiding. Leaf-like growths of chitinous armor will not allow you to suspect a predator in the crown. While the praying mantis is hiding in fragrant inflorescences and lush branches, it is almost impossible to notice it.



Hello, do you want to die in my arms?

Insects do not even notice. And he - easily. The vision of the praying mantis is unique. Firstly, it sees a picture at 180 degrees. Secondly, the insect's eyepieces are stereoscopic, like ours. This means that the praying mantis perfectly determines the size of objects and the distance to them. But if our brain compares images from both eyes, creating a three-dimensional image based on them, then the central ganglion of the devil's flower sees the image in dynamics.





Woke up, smiled, stretched.

The insect tracks changes in illumination and the size of objects, and then builds an image based on this data. This means that the praying mantis only needs to notice prey with one eye for it to fall into its field of vision. The predator does not even need to turn its head to track a flying target.



What are you looking at? Do you want those same cool eyes?

And when the prey is close enough, the mantis simply takes it out of the air with its front paws. The whole throw of the damn flower takes no more than 0.08 seconds. The laws of physics themselves will not allow a beetle, fly or butterfly to dodge such a blow. Just for comparison: the speed of human reaction is 0.2-0.25 seconds. We, humans, even in theory could not defend ourselves from them.



The damn flowers have a huge variety of colors, allowing them to mimic completely different flowers.

A praying mantis hunt turns into a creepy thriller. An ordinary-looking flower suddenly opens up, turning into an elegant, alien-looking creature on four thin legs. With supernatural speed, it grabs its prey and devours it alive and slowly.



Did you order a stranger?

Not because he wants to cause her as much pain and suffering as possible. The damn flower is simply unable to do otherwise. His front paws, powerful, spiky, are excellent at capturing prey, but are not capable of inflicting fatal injuries. And his small jaws are rather weak. So it turns out that a meal can last for 10-15 minutes.



Look at my cool one!

But even living weapons need to reproduce. Two weeks after 8-9 molts, the damn flowers muffle their fighting instincts, spread their antennae and raise their bellies. At the end of the female's belly are pheromone glands, and on the male's antennae are special sensitive receptors. Having smelled the scent of love and determined the approximate direction, the male spreads his thin wings and goes in search.



Come on, tell me that the butterfly has prettier wings.

At this moment, he is more vulnerable than ever. Neither keen eyesight nor excellent reaction will save him from insectivorous birds. Against large predators, the mantis uses the same weapon as against prey - camouflage. If the alien is still exposed, he puts on display his giant paws with broad shoulders. In the hustle and bustle, the chupacabra with its spiky arms can scare even the hungriest hunter.



Come on, attack, thing that gives me food!

If the male gets to the female, he will almost certainly mate with her. But whether he will survive is a big question. If the lady is nervous, her hunting instincts can kick in at the most inopportune moment. She will simply eat her betrothed. Soon after mating, the female will grow an ootheca: a leathery sac with several dozen eggs inside. She will lay it in a secluded place. Then she will come to her senses, put on some fat and repeat the process. The devil's flower lives for about a year, during which time you can have time to leave offspring 2-3 times.



This is what freshly hatched flowers look like. They will run away from each other in a couple of minutes. Praying mantises do not shy away from cannibalism if they cannot get other food.

The devil's flower turned out to be so frighteningly beautiful that some people have entire "greenhouses" at home. Large dimensions and a rich palette of colors attract lovers of exoticism. However, the demand for insects exceeds supply. Wild praying mantises are caught for private collections. So far, this has not affected the population of the species. But how long can the alien boogah survive on our planet?



Do you think I'm beautiful? Oh, it's so cute, give me a hug!