Startling Displays
Apr 17th, 2010 by Karthik
One evening, through the window came flying in a green coloured insect and settled on the sofa in the living room of our home. At first sight I recognised it as a praying mantis. It was overall a rich green with a bright yellow circular patch on the forewing. I wanted to photograph this praying mantis. So, quickly got my camera out. And, I gently picked the praying mantis in one hand and used the other to cover it so that I could take it into my garden for a photography session.
When I transferred it to a twig, it suddenly opened its wings and exposed the bright pink on the base of the hind wing while simultaneously putting up its “praying legs” and making itself look big – this would have startled an unsuspecting predator. This threat display of this mantis did not have the desired impact on me but it definitely surprised me and I got more than what I bargained for. I managed to capture this moment on film before this wonderful little insect decided to wing its way to freedom!
On another occasion while exploring my garden, I stumbled upon a light green praying mantis beautifully camouflaged in its surroundings. Out came the camera and I was trying to get as close as the lens would permit. I was slowly maneuvering myself into position, when I noticed the mantis rearing up and displaying the red lips and simultaneously moving its first pair of legs apart. The otherwise slender thorax now looked broad and the spines on the first pair of legs threatening. In this stance, the praying mantis looked formidable indeed.
The fruit-sucking moth is another example of this behaviour. This moth, when sitting in a normal resting position, is beautifully camouflaged with its background. If a predator gets past this camouflage and attacks the moth, it opens the forewings and reveals a pair of brightly coloured eyespots on the hind wings. This can startle a potential predator!
Threat displays and startling displays are used by a lot of organisms. The above are just two examples of how organisms use colours to their advantage. If curiosity gets the better of us, we will stumble upon several such examples even in our immediate environment.
Superb informative post, Karthik! And stunning pics, esp the second one of the mantis! It does look scary!
what pics … I really liked the posts ..
hey karthik
nice post! Loved the second pic of the mantis. she looks like the angry empress of your garden!
wow.. Never seen such an image of the mantis (first pic).. Super stuff!
Also interesting to note, i presume, is different species of Praying Mantis have different ways of threat display to predators.
wow Karthik you i give you the badge to be India’s own answer to Gerald Durrell. If you have doubts whenever you can read ‘My Farm And Other Animals’ and you will know i’m not polishing you. True naturalist and super duper photographer.Your shots have captured ur feelings…proud to know you…viva blogging…3 cheers! Karthik
Hello Karthik,
I love reading your posts.
I’ve noticed that the black spots in the mantis’ compound eyes appear to follow you as you move your head. I’ve always found that spooky - the spot looks like an eyeball tracking your face. I’ve tried this experiment every time I have encountered a mantis and every species, right from the small brown fellows to the elaborately winged large ones, seem to display this characteristic. I’ll be grateful if you can explain why this happens.
Hello Bijoy !
If you google for pseudopupil (which is what the black spot is called!) you will find the following on wikipedia.
“In the eye of an invertebrate with a compound eye, the pseudopupil appears as a dark spot because ommatidia there are aligned to absorb light coming from the viewer’s direction. The pseudopupil can seem to follow the viewer’s eye in creatures such as mantises, dragonflies, and crabs.”
whoa.. interesting to know pseudopupil.. need to check next time
Wow, hadn’t been to Google Reader for a while and I thoroughly enjoyed this post now! Thanks for the info…could you tell me what this insect is?
http://deponti.livejournal.com/663625.html
can’t be clear if it’s a cricket, katydid or a preying mantis…
Very informative post and superb pictures! Thanks for sharing your observations Karthik
Kathik — I got here through Ted Macrae’s “Beetles in the bush” blog on moths, and glad I did!
Deepa Mohan– The insect is a very young katydid. Forest Park, St.Louis is a great urban wildlife viewing spot. There are even native ants there, notwithstanding serious invasin by Japanese pavement ants. Check out Shaw Nature Reserve, west of town of I-44, if you haven’t already.
Lovely shot of the threatening pose! Nice explantion of all that was happenning as always.
I know how tough it is to capture good shots. I was able to manage this after many attempts during our vacation last month.
http://picasaweb.google.com/naturerambles/GeorgiaSunshineBirds#5458085630445000178
nanda