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Pseudocreobotra Ocellata
''Pseudocreobotra ocellata'', known as the African flower mantis or with other species as the spiny flower mantis, is a flower mantis () native to Africa, ranging from Angola and South Africa in the south to Uganda in the east and Senegal in the west. It was described by the French naturalist Palisot de Beauvois in 1805. Description The adult has bold disruptive coloration in cream and green, providing effective camouflage against flowers and in damp leafy places. The male reaches 25 mm long, the female 32 mm. There are spiny projections under the abdomen, 6 in the male, 5 in the female. The wings of the male are longer and wider than the abdomen, while the female's wings are narrower than the abdomen and can only briefly sustain flight. Behaviour and ecology The wings of ''P. ocellata'', like those of ''Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii'', are marked with a large brightly coloured eyespot which is used in deimatic display to startle predators. The adults are aggressive m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palisot De Beauvois
Ambroise Marie François Joseph Palisot, Baron de Beauvois (27 July 1752, in Arras – 21 January 1820, in Paris) was a French naturalist and zoologist. Palisot collected insects in Oware, Benin, Saint Domingue, and the United States, from 1786 to 1797. Trained as a botanist, Palisot published a significant entomological paper entitled, "Insectes Receuillis en Afrique et en Amerique". Together with Frederick Valentine Melsheimer, he was one of the first entomologists to collect and describe American insects. He described many common insects and suggested an ordinal classification of insects. He described many Scarabaeidae as well as illustrating them for the first time. The study included 39 '' Scarabaeus'' species, 17 '' Copris'' species, 7 '' Trox'' species, 4 '' Cetonia'' and 4 '' Trichius'' species. Familiar beetles such as '' Canthon viridis'', '' Macrodactylus angustatus'' and '' Osmoderma scabra'' were first described by him. Many of the specimens that were labelled fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower Mantis
Flower mantises are praying mantis species that use a special form of camouflage referred to as aggressive mimicry, which they not only use to attract prey, but avoid predators as well. These insects have specific colorations and behaviors that mimic flowers in their surrounding habitats. This strategy has been observed in other mantises including the stick mantis and dead-leaf mantis. The observed behavior of these mantises includes positioning themselves on a plant and either inserting themselves within the irradiance or on the foliage of the plants until a prey insect comes within range. Many species of flower mantises are popular as pets. The flower mantises are non-nocturnal group with a single ancestry (a clade), but the majority of the known species belong to family Hymenopodidea. Example species: Orchid mantis The orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus of southeast Asia mimics orchid flowers. There is no evidence that suggests that they mimic a specific orchid, but their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Disruptive Coloration
Disruptive coloration (also known as disruptive camouflage or disruptive patterning) is a form of camouflage that works by breaking up the outlines of an animal, soldier or military vehicle with a strongly contrasting pattern. It is often combined with other methods of crypsis including background colour matching and countershading; special cases are coincident disruptive coloration and the disruptive eye mask seen in some fishes, amphibians, and reptiles. It appears paradoxical as a way of not being seen, since disruption of outlines depends on high contrast, so the patches of colour are themselves conspicuous. The importance of high-contrast patterns for successful disruption was predicted in general terms by the artist Abbott Thayer in 1909 and explicitly by the zoologist Hugh Cott in 1940. Later experimental research has started to confirm these predictions. Disruptive patterns work best when all their components match the background. While background matching works best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier, and the leaf-mimic katydid's wings. A third approach, motion dazzle, confuses the observer with a conspicuous pattern, making the object visible but momentarily harder to locate, as well as making general aiming easier. The majority of camouflage methods aim for crypsis, often through a general resemblance to the background, high contrast disruptive coloration, eliminating shadow, and countershading. In the open ocean, where there is no background, the principal methods of camouflage are transparency, silvering, and countershading, while the ability to produce light is among other things used for counter-illumination on the undersides of cephalopods such as squid. Some animals, such as chameleons and o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergii
''Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii,'' or the spiny flower mantis, is a small flower mantis () native to southern and eastern Africa. Morphology The adult has spiny structures on the underside of its abdomen, giving it its name. It is variable in colour, being typically light green, but it can equally be tinted yellow, pink, or red. It has a large eyespot on its forewings, which is black, green and cream and is surrounded by a green patch. The inner hind wings are orange and the outer hind wings are transparent. Nymphs are black until the third instar. Sexual dimorphism ''P. wahlbergii'' exhibits sexual dimorphism. Females have small spines towards the base of their wings and six to seven segments on their abdomen. Females also tend to have slightly shorter antennae, longer wings, and take seven moults to reach maturity. On the other hand, males lack the spines found near females' wings, have eight abdominal segments, shorter wings, longer antennae and require six moults to reach m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eyespot (mimicry)
An eyespot (sometimes ocellus) is an eye-like marking. They are found in butterflies, reptiles, cats, birds and fish. Eyespots could be explained in at least three different ways. They may be a form of mimicry in which a spot on the body of an animal resembles an eye of a different animal, to deceive potential predator or prey species. They may be a form of self-mimicry, to draw a predator's attention away from the prey's most vulnerable body parts. Or they may serve to make the prey appear inedible or dangerous. Eyespot markings may play a role in intraspecies communication or courtship; the best-known example is probably the eyespots on a peacock's display feathers. The pattern-forming biological process (morphogenesis) of eyespots in a wide variety of animals is controlled by a small number of genes active in embryonic development, including the genes called Engrailed, Distal-less, Hedgehog, Antennapedia, and the Notch signaling pathway. Artificial eyespots have been sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deimatic Display
Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey animal an opportunity to escape. The term deimatic or dymantic originates from the Greek δειματόω (deimatóo), meaning "to frighten". Deimatic display occurs in widely separated groups of animals, including moths, butterflies, mantises and phasmids among the insects. In the cephalopods, different species of octopuses, squids, cuttlefish and the paper nautilus are deimatic. Displays are classified as deimatic or aposematic by the responses of the animals that see them. Where predators are initially startled but learn to eat the displaying prey, the display is classed as deimatic, and the prey is bluffing; where they continue to avoid the prey after tasting it, the display is taken as aposematic, meaning the prey is genuinely distastef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aggressive Mimicry
Aggressive mimicry is a form of mimicry in which predators, parasites, or parasitoids share similar signals, using a harmless model, allowing them to avoid being correctly identified by their prey or host. Zoologists have repeatedly compared this strategy to a wolf in sheep's clothing. In its broadest sense, aggressive mimicry could include various types of exploitation, as when an orchid exploits a male insect by mimicking a sexually receptive female (see pseudocopulation), but will here be restricted to forms of exploitation involving feeding. An alternative term Peckhamian mimicry (after George and Elizabeth Peckham) has been suggested, but is seldom used. For example, indigenous Australians who dress up as and imitate kangaroos when hunting would not be considered aggressive mimics, nor would a human angler, though they are undoubtedly practising self-decoration camouflage. Treated separately is molecular mimicry, which shares some similarity; for instance a virus may mimic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Mantis Genera And Species
The following list of mantis genera and species is based on the "Mantodea Species File", which is the primary reference for the taxonomy shown here. The insect Order (biology), order Mantodea consists of over 2,400 species of mantises in about 460 genus, genera. 75 of these genera are in the Family (biology), family Mantidae (the mantids), which formerly was sole family recognized within the order. In some cases, common names in the English language are loosely applied to several different members of a particular genus, or even for species in various genera. For example, "giant Asian mantis" is used for various members of ''Hierodula'', "dead leaf mantis" may refer not only to various species of ''Deroplatys'', but to all brown mantises that use leaf mimicry for camouflage. "flower mantis" refers to numerous mantises, especially those belonging to or similar to those of genus ''Creobroter'', and so on. ---For citation of common nomenclature and additional references, see individua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flower Mantis
Flower mantises are praying mantis species that use a special form of camouflage referred to as aggressive mimicry, which they not only use to attract prey, but avoid predators as well. These insects have specific colorations and behaviors that mimic flowers in their surrounding habitats. This strategy has been observed in other mantises including the stick mantis and dead-leaf mantis. The observed behavior of these mantises includes positioning themselves on a plant and either inserting themselves within the irradiance or on the foliage of the plants until a prey insect comes within range. Many species of flower mantises are popular as pets. The flower mantises are non-nocturnal group with a single ancestry (a clade), but the majority of the known species belong to family Hymenopodidea. Example species: Orchid mantis The orchid mantis, Hymenopus coronatus of southeast Asia mimics orchid flowers. There is no evidence that suggests that they mimic a specific orchid, but their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hymenopodidae
Hymenopodidae is a family of the order Mantodea (mantises), which contains six subfamilies. Some of the species in this family mimic flowers and are found camouflaged among them; these are called flower mantises. Their coloration is aggressive mimicry, luring prey to approach close enough to be seized and eaten. Subfamilies, tribes and genera The ''Mantodea Species File'' lists: Acromantinae Auth: Giglio-Tos, 1919 * tribe Acromantini ** '' Acromantis'' Saussure, 1870 ** '' Ambivia'' Stal, 1877 ** '' Citharomantis'' Rehn, 1909 ** '' Majangella'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 ** '' Metacromantis'' Beier, 1930 ** '' Oligomantis'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 ** '' Parapsychomantis'' Shcherbakov, 2017 ** '' Psychomantis'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 ** '' Rhomantis'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 * tribe Otomantini ** '' Anasigerpes'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 ** '' Chrysomantis'' Giglio-Tos, 1915 ** '' Otomantis'' Bolivar, 1890 ** '' Oxypiloidea'' Schulthess, 1898 Hymenopodinae Auth: Giglio-Tos, 1919 * tribe Anaxarchini ** '' Anaxarc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mantodea Of Africa
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantodea have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey; their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis. The closest relatives of mantises are termites and cockroaches (Blattodea), which are all within the superorder Dictyoptera. Mantises are sometimes confused with stick insects ( Phasmatodea), other elongated insects such as grasshoppers ( Orthoptera), or other more distantly related insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies (Mantispidae). Mantises are mostly ambush predators, but a few ground-dwelling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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