''Theopropus elegans'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

banded flower mantis, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of praying mantis native to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. Until their first moult, nymphs have red and black

exoskeletons An exoskeleton (from Greek ''éxō'' "outer" and ''skeletós'' "skeleton") is an external skeleton that supports and protects an animal's body, in contrast to an internal skeleton (endoskeleton) in for example, a human. In usage, some of the ...

that aid them in

ant mimicry Ant mimicry or myrmecomorphy is mimicry of ants by other organisms. Ants are abundant all over the world, and potential predators that rely on vision to identify their prey, such as birds and wasps, normally avoid them, because they are either un ...

. They are green and white starting at their second

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

and adults are similar in size and appearance to ''

Creobroter ''Creobroter'' is a genus of flower mantises in the tribe Hymenopodini; species are concentrated in Asia. The name comes from the Greek kreo-', meaning "flesh") and ''broter''" meaning "eating", therefore, "flesh-eating", an apt name for a pred ...

'' species. Adult females are up to 5 cm in length while males only grow to 3 cm in length due to the

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...

common in mantises. Both sexes have green and white spots with bright orange hind wings and a large white transverse stripe on the forewings. Individual ''T. elegans'' hatched from a single ootheca and reared under the same conditions can show color variation between tones of red, green, and yellow. Individuals can also change their color in as little as a week.
''Theopropus elegans''

References

Hymenopodidae Mantodea of Southeast Asia Insects of Laos Insects of Malaysia Insects of Thailand Insects of Vietnam Insects of Myanmar Insects of Cambodia Insects of Singapore Insects described in 1832 Taxa named by John O. Westwood {{hymenopodidae-stub

See also

References