Spiny Flower Mantis

Nature 2 Minutes

Sure, you’ve heard of the Praying Mantis. But have you met its cousin, Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii, also known as the Spiny Flower Mantis? We stumbled upon its photo during an image search and had to find out more. Here are a few things to know about this beautiful, terrifying-looking insect. 

This tiny bug measures between 1 to 2 inches and is native to Southern and Eastern Africa.

Nymphs, like the one shown above, have an upturned abdomen. Adults have a large yellow spiral eyespot on their fore wings.

When they’re first born, nymphs are mostly black and look almost like ants.

Nymphs will molt approximately every two weeks; the time between molts gradually increases as the mantids get closer to adulthood. During molting, a mantis hangs upside down, sometimes shaking, and eventually wiggles out of its skin. It takes seven molts for a female to reach maturity, and six molts for males.

When threatened, the insects raise their fore wings, which makes them look like a much larger creature with big, golden eyes. This is called a deimatic display, and it looks like this:

I wouldn’t want to run into that guy in an alley—would you?

Instead of searching for prey,P. wahlbergii prefers to snatch its meals—usually pollinating insects right from the air.

Females have small spines on the edges of their wing cases; males do not. The male has slightly longer antennae and eight segments on its abdomen (females will have six or seven).

An easy way to tell males from females is to look at the length of their wings: A female’s wings will reach to the end of her abdomen, while a male’s wings will extend past it.

Like other mantis species, the Spiny Flower Mantis is cannibalistic. As usual, it’s the males who have the most to fear; the website MantisKingdom.com recommends feeding the female before putting a male in the cage behind her:

As she is busy with eating, she can’t grab him or throw him off of her. After a while of holding on, the male will bend his abdomen down to connect with hers and mating will commence.

After the deed is done, the site suggests getting the male out of the cage quickly, or else he’ll become a meal.

SOURCE: MENTAL FLOSS

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Published by pat frederick

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138 thoughts on “Spiny Flower Mantis”

    1. We’ve got some pretty clouds around but it’s still steamy and 73 already, w/o the slightest breeze – I need to run out this morning before it gets hot to check on Jerry and get some stamps. I’ll be waiting until Friday for my Norfolk run – supposed to be much cooler, with some rain possible. GT was here for breakfast but steadfastly refuses to eat while I’m sitting outside.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. scott467(@scott467)Offline
    Coyote
    August 23, 2023 01:33

    They caught Dirty Martha 😂

    .

    BUSTED – Fox News and Martha MacCallum Caught Presenting Koch Brothers Activist as Fake GOP Voter in Wisconsin to Support Ron DeSantis
    August 22, 2023

    “By now we are all too familiar with the schemes and plots of the corporate media as they participate in the political illusion of choice game. However, for Rupert Murdoch and Fox News debate moderator Martha MacCallum, this catch shreds the remaining little credibility they carried.

    Fox News is hosting the GOP debate in Wisconsin. During this build up segment, Martha MacCallum introduces the “random Republican voters” in Wisconsin who will watch the debate. Except, well… there’s a little problem. MacCallum introduces Chris Lawrence as a “Wisconsin GOP voter” who seemingly supports Ron DeSantis. However, MacCallum fails to mention that Chris Lawrence actually works for the Koch Network, who have recently pledged to spend $70 million to defeat President Trump.

    Not only has Chris Lawrence worked for the Koch Network for the past 9 years, he is also the Senior Field Director for the Koch group Americans for Prosperity. In essence, Lawrence is a political operative planted in the group by Fox News to support Ron DeSantis and make it appear like he is an innocuous voter. Fox News and Martha MacCallum should be embarrassed, but they won’t be. ”

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Sheesh! Get a new make-up artist, Martha! Do something with that neck if you’re gonna be on TV!!!!

        Like

  13. Feisty Hayseed
    August 23, 2023 1:05 am

    Oregon Court Orders Alleged Antifa Members To Pay Andy Ngo $300,000 In Protest Beating Case

    An Oregon court handed down a $300,000 judgement against three individuals involved in a 2019 attack on journalist Andy Ngo, The Oregonian reported Monday.

    The defendants failed to turn up as Ngo testified about his “near-death experience,” according to The Oregonian.

    Ngo sued alleged Antifa members Madison “Denny” Lee Allen, Corbyn “Katherine” Belyea and Sammich Overkill Schott-Deputy (born Joseph Evans) for attacking him at June 29, 2019 protest, The Post Millennial reported.

    https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/22/andy-ngo-awarded-300000-protest-beating-oregon-court-antifa/

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Julie Kelly 🇺🇸
    @julie_kelly2
    Aug 21 • 2 tweets • 2 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
    NEW: Jack Smith really stepped in it when he asked Judge Cannon to hold a “Garcia” hearing to try and disqualify Walt Nauta’s defense attorney, Stanley Woodward. Smith admitted he still had a grand jury operating in DC. Cannon called him out and now Woodward has, too
    Image
    Image
    DOJ then Smith conducted entire “classified docs” investigation in DC–even though venue was southern FLA. Switched to FLA at last minute to get indictment, which involved reading DC grand jury summaries to FLA GJ (LOL)

    Defense attys in 1st hearing told Judge Cannon they may pursue abuse of grand jury motion. She further suggested it after Smith admitted a DC grand jury WAS STILL WORKING on the matter.

    If there is any reason for entire case to get tossed, it’s bc DOJ then Smith (appointed in Nov 2022, 8 months after FBI opened investigation) used DC grand jury and the wicked chief judge Beryl Howell to investigate and get favorable rulings such as piercing atty-client privilege btw Trump and his lawyer.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Julie Kelly 🇺🇸
    @julie_kelly2
    15h • 2 tweets • 1 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
    I wonder if Jack Smith reads Jack Smith’s motions in Jack Smith’s cases:

    On left, Jack Smith told DC judge CIPA procedures–relates to handling of classified docs–shouldn’t delay Trump’s J6 trial.

    On right, Jack Smith told FLA judge in Trump’s classified docs case it does:
    Image
    Image
    ONE DAY after scoffing at Trump’s motion to delay trial, citing onerous obligations under CIPA, Smith files a motion seeking a CIPA officer and other procedures–possibly a SCIF like Mar-a-Lago case?–to slow roll process.

    Smith has no intention of going to trial in December

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Sonia
    August 23, 2023 9:02 am

    Corruption of Science and the Political Left: How it works

    London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s deputy urged scientists to alter a Lancet study that showed London’s low emissions zone made no difference to children’s health.

    Mr Khan’s deputy, Shirley Rodrigues, tried to discredit and silence Imperial College scientists, who found that the ultra-low emissions zone (Ulez) had little impact on pollution. Rodrigues asked if Professor Chris Griffiths, of Queen Mary University of London, could reword the study’s conclusion that found no evidence of health benefits to children’s lungs.

    Prof Griffiths refused the request, replying to Ms Rodrigues: “Apologies – it’s difficult to alter the sentence you refer to as it’s what we set out to look for but didn’t find.”

    Mr Khan is pushing ahead with expansion of Ulez, which will charge motorists in all London’s 32 boroughs $16 per day to drive polluting vehicles from August 29.

    Professor Chris Griffiths is now a marked man who can say goodbye to his research grants.

    Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/22/shirley-rodrigues-urged-scientists-alter-study-low-emission/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Stocking up maybe? My Orioles had tailed off substantially so I wasn’t refilling the jelly as often but earlier, I heard/saw 2 males fighting over it so I added more jelly. Seed and nectar feeders were both empty as well. It looks like they aren’t drinking the nectar in the front feeder on the Trumpet vines much at all yet I see them on my Vinca flowers off-and-on thru the day. And always on the Honeysuckle vines, as well as the Weigela flowers out in front. My 2 Rose of Sharon bushes are FINALLY showing substantial growth and I am hopeful for possible blooms next year – these supposedly have multi-colored blooms. The yellow lilac bush is also growing a lot – it’s at least 4 times as tall as when I planted it!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. you have a gift!
        dunno about the hummers. i never saw them at the marigolds before this year either. I think the red geraniums i put in the garden (because they were simply gorgeous at the garden center) might have attracted them, but they are not trumpet flowers so I’m baffled.
        it’s about 65* now so not that cold…and they have seemed to calm down at the moment

        Liked by 1 person

        1. All flowers have nectar in them – red always draws birds, hummers and others. Same with bright orange. The Vinca blooms are flat but the hummers hit them all the time.

          Liked by 1 person

  19. Patience
    August 23, 2023 9:18 am

    Donald J. Trump
    @realDonaldTrump
    ·
    2h
    NOBODY HAS EVER FOUGHT FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY LIKE PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. FOR DOING SO, I WILL PROUDLY BE ARRESTED TOMORROW AFTERNOON IN GEORGIA. GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

    Liked by 1 person

      1. The Malone’s provided it, thankfully! The more I learn about them, the more I admire them! In all honesty, most times, I prefer to read a transcript – I can read faster than I can watch a video! LOL

        Liked by 1 person

    2. Dr. Robert Malone: Well, because truth is irrelevant in this environment and there’s absolutely no ethical boundaries. This is fifth generation warfare, which I lecture about constantly.

      There are no ethical boundaries for them. It’s all based on the utilitarian concept that the ends justify the means. So they will say or do anything. And basically what we’ve had is the captured corporate media linked together with the administrative state. Both of which have kind of fused with the intelligence community globally – particularly in the western nations. Then they have assimilated the ethics of the intelligence community, which are basically no ethics at all. Any group that is quite willing to assassinate and undermine governments and manipulate election results, et cetera, internationally, basically has no ethics compared to what you or I might have.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I’m back – got my stamps and stopped in and talked to Mark, Jerry’s son – he’s fine, just getting a lot of spam calls and probably didn’t recognize my number. He was out looking at someone’s mower so I’ll call him later. It’s a relief to know he’s ok!

        Liked by 1 person

  29. Myfairlady53
    Myfairlady53
    August 23, 2023 10:35 am

    Just came across the Radio bottom of the news alert, Doug Burgham, the Governor of North Dakota hurt himself playing his basketball last night and he won’t be on the debate stage tonight. Wow!

    Liked by 1 person

  30. OK, after my usual bouncing around…I finally finished the transcript of the Malones’ interview…

    “Dr. Robert Malone: It’s going to get a little rough, and we have to be willing to stand our ground. And we also have to find ways to connect with each other to build communities. And this is the logic of intentional communities, whether they’re at a distance and we’re tied together because of common interests or perspective like what we’re sharing right now. Or local communities like we have here in semi-rural Virginia where we depend and interact on each other and build a network of capabilities. Which is more of an Amish way of life – with a little more self-reliance.

    Jill and I have literally homesteaded our current farm. We own it completely. We’re debt free. We own the tractor, we own the truck, we own everything completely paid off, including the farm and our home. And that is a model that a lot of people are starting to go to because the banking system is at the center of a lot of this control. And it is absolutely being weaponized more and more – and on an incremental daily basis.

    We’re seeing it. Nigel Farage was just one example. The Canadian truckers was another example. And we’re seeing this propagated down to the levels of folks like you and me. So that’s I think the silver lining here is that we can now see their hand. For those of us that are willing to try to maintain our freedom, because we can’t live without it, we have to start building intentional communities and building up infrastructure to allow us to survive this coming storm.”

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Holy cow! This describes me to a T and yes, I saw the hand first!

    “Next, Mia revealed what it meant if you instead spotted the hand first. ‘If you first saw the hand, then you’re an incredible problem solver in stressful situations and are able to tackle any challenge that comes your way,’ she explained. However, the content creator revealed that those who saw the hand struggle with making simple choices and can be described as indecisive.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12433747/Optical-illusion-deep-thinker-indecisive.html

    Liked by 1 person

  35. “I’m not saying this is a conspiracy, but in a time when CRISPR is used to alter bugs, when meat is becoming increasingly more expensive, when a push is made for alternatives to meat – what better way to force people to eat non-meat than by making them unable to eat real meat? Thoughts?”

    Liked by 1 person

  36. “MASA: Make America Scared Again–Permanent “emergencies” on the One World Government statist plantation.”
    2ND SMARTEST GUY IN THE WORLD
    AUG 23, 2023

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Since the illegitimate Federal government domiciled in the foreign nation of Washington,. D.C. is now hellbent on escalating their full spectrum soft against We the People with their followup PSYOP-23 “pandemic,” let’s call this latest mass induced fear campaign what it really is: MASA.
    https://www.2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com/p/psyop-23-rising-mockingbird-msm-activated
    The mass fear inducement phase of all things “pandemic” is now officially being manufactured in realtime by the MSM talking airheads: Wasting no time, the opening of this Nightly News episode had the grifting BigPharma shill anchor Lester Holt promoting the next round of DEATHVAX™. And the senile diaper soiling ice cream licking pedo criminal puppet was installed to demoralize you as a sub-psyop component of said soft war, which now is positioning for another round of MK Ultra masking, lockdowns and DEATHVAX™ compliance:

    Do NOT comply.”

    Liked by 1 person

  37. warnock is SHADY
    FTA
    Sen. Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.) used a sketchy accounting loophole to rake in more than four times the allowable outside income allowance for senators in 2022, a move experts say doesn’t pass legal muster.

    Warnock made $155,000 in 2022 serving as a part-time pastor at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, according to his latest financial disclosure. That far exceeds the $30,000 outside income limit for lawmakers in the upper chamber, but the Democratic senator claimed $125,000 of his pastor pay for the year was actually “deferred compensation” for services he rendered to the church before he was sworn into office on Jan. 20, 2021.

    There’s just one problem: The “deferred compensation” arrangement seems entirely fabricated. If Warnock’s church truly owed the Democrat $125,000 in unpaid wages earned before he joined the Senate, he should have reported it as an asset in his 2021 financial disclosure, experts say. But Warnock made no mention of any such arrangement in his disclosure that year. Nor is there any reference to any “deferred compensation” arrangement for Warnock or any other employee in Ebenezer Baptist Church’s financial records, according to the church’s audited financial statements for the years ending 2020 and 2021 obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

    To Kendra Arnold, the executive director of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, the omission of any prior mention of Warnock’s supposed “deferred compensation” arrangement from Ebenezer Baptist Church is problematic and raises the question of whether the Democratic lawmaker wrongly characterized the bulk of his church income in 2022 in a scheme to evade outside income limitations.

    https://freebeacon.com/democrats/senator-warnock-outside-income/

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Paul Sperry
      @paulsperry_
      REVEALED: David Weiss’s deputy Lesley Wolf “developed a rapport” with Hunter’s lawyer Chris Clark & actually let him DRAFT THE LANGUAGE used in the sweetheart agreement, per correspondence Hunter’s legal team leaked to the New York Times, which confirmed Wolf’s Democrat donations

      Liked by 1 person

  40. Troublemaker10
    August 23, 2023 12:31 pm

    Progressive, pro-crime policies that favor criminals over law-abiding Americans not only make cities less safe, but destroy local economies.

    In these cities, stores are fleeing, people have less options & jobs are disappearing.

    Pro-safety & pro-growth Republican policies work! pic.twitter.com/xkOFMOgvo9

    — Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) August 22, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Black Knight
    August 23, 2023 1:16 pm

    Not sure where this is going, but Trump, Jr has posted:

    “Go out and get yourself a conspiracy theorist friend if you don’t have one. You’re gonna need one to explain what is about to happen.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. More details to follow

    A private jet belonging to the Wagner mercenary chief Evgeny Prigozhin crashed in Tver region in Russia on Wednesday evening with 10 people dead including Prigozhin himself.

    According to the Russian Aviation agency, three crew members and seven passengers were on board. Several Telegram channels reported that the jet was show down by air defense system.

    https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.i24news.tv%2Fen%2Fnews%2Finternational%2Feurope%2F1692810307-wagner-chief-prigozhin-among-10-dead-in-russia-jet-crash

    Liked by 1 person

  47. DiedSuddenly
    @DiedSuddenly_
    BOOM: Florida To Officially Classify mRNA COVID Shots As Illegal ‘Bio-Weapons’

    Lawmakers in Florida have announced plans to officially designate mRNA Covid vaccines as “bio-weapons” that are hazardous to human health.

    The proposed law seeks to BAN the administration of mRNA shots to anybody in the state.

    The Brevard Republican Executive Committee has urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to sign the legislation, which will outlaw Covid-19 vaccines, as soon as possible.

    The non-binding resolution was passed by a supermajority vote of committee membership Thursday. It now goes to DeSantis to sign.

    http://Floridatoday.com reports: A draft version of the resolution reviewed by reporters closely mirrors one passed by the Lee County Republican Party in February, drawing national headlines.

    “Strong and credible evidence has recently been revealed that Covid-19 and Covid-19 injections are biological and technological weapons,” the Brevard draft resolution says, citing claims that have been disproven and disputed by respected medical groups.

    “An enormous number of humans have died or been permanently disabled” by the vaccine, it says. “Government agencies, media and tech companies, and other corporations, have committed enormous fraud by claiming Covid-19 injections are safe and effective.”

    It calls on DeSantis to ban sale and distribution of the vaccine “and all related vaccines,” and for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody to seize all remaining doses in the state for safety testing, “on behalf of the preservation of the human race,” it says.

    It also calls for mandatory disclosures on any product in the state “using mRNA or gene altering or therapeutic technology.”

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Liked by 2 people

        1. Oh, yeah! A/C working just fine, thankfully! Knowing this heat was coming spurred me to remove and clean the cool air intake vent and vacuum the screen behind it. It’s been a couple of years since I did it and it needed it – the a/c doesn’t have to work as hard.

          Liked by 1 person

  49. Collin Rugg
    @CollinRugg
    BREAKING: Mugshots have been released by the Fulton County Sheriff for Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell and Jenna Ellis.

    You are watching the complete degradation of the so-called ‘justice’ system in real time.

    After leaving the jail, Giuliani blasted D.A. Fani Willis, saying she will “go down in history” for attacking the US constitution.

    “Fani Willis will go down in American history and having conducted one of the worst attacks on the American Constitution ever when this case is dismissed.”

    “She has violated people’s First Amendment right to petition the government for grievances like an election they believe was poorly conducted or falsely conducted. People have a right to believe that.”

    Liked by 1 person

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