Category: New Pictures

Ghost mantis development in pictures

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I’m happy to show you some new pictures I received from Jarno Akkersdijk. He made some stunning pictures of his Ghost mantids and shared them at his website http://ghostmantisnl.wixsite.com/home

I got permission to share them with you too. The pictures are great because they show the growth and development of a mantis in a clear way. Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Ghost mantis development and growth

Ghost mantis female development and growth

Every time the mantis changed her skin, Jarno photographed her with a one euro coin for scale. At the last picture the mantis is adult and will not grow more.

A ghost mantis with an empty stomach and the same one just after eating a large meal.

A ghost mantis with an empty stomach and the same one just after eating a large meal.

You can clearly see how much food and fat a mantis has in its body. A mantis will store all of this in it abdomen. That is the last part of its body. When the mantis is eating you will see the abdomen becoming bigger and bigger. This picture illustrates that beautifully.

Ghost mantis differences males and females

Ghost mantis differences males and females

Male and female mantises look different. Here Jarno highlighted some differences between male and female ghost mantises.

Adult female ghost mantis

Adult female ghost mantis

Just a nice picture of an adult Ghost mantis (Phyllocrania paradoxa) to end with. You can read more about this mantis species at the link.

Some beautiful submitted insects photographs

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I got a message from Luc Bouffard from Canada. He is an insect enthousiast and photographer and allowed me to share his pictures with you.

Hi Linda, my name is Luc and I have been visiting your site often to learn more about the insect I photograph. I really enjoy your site, thank you.

Any of my bugs picture you can use for your website if needed.

 

Here are some of his pictures, click to enlarge them. Check out the rest at Luc’s Google+ page.

The species depicted are the following:

New species description

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For some time I was without any stick insects as pets, but now I could not resist to start again. I got some beautiful Necroscia annulipes specimens. Two males and two females. This species is so beautiful. The colors are amazing. I took some pictures today. To read more about this species, check out Necroscia annulipes.

Necroscia-annulipes-male2

Adult male Necroscia annulipes

Adult male Necroscia annulipes

Adult male Necroscia annulipes

female

Funny perspective on this female

For more pictures you can check out The Necroscia annulipes page.

male showing its wings

Male showing its wings (after some coaxing)

Video of mantis nymphs hatching

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Check out this cool video of mantises hatching out of their egg. Mantis eggs are enclosed in a hard foamy pouch called an ootheca. The nymphs wiggle out of the egg and out of the ootheca on a thin string. They immediately molt (shed their skin) for the first time. After that they look like tiny mantises. Before it molts for the first time it is called a pronymph, after the first molt they are called L1 nymphs. When the skin is off, the tiny mantis dries off and walks away!
This specific mantis species has nymphs that look a bit different than the “ordinary” mantis species like the European mantis (Mantis religiosa). But they way they hatch is very similar.

Reader’s question: What is THIS?

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I got a question from Marianne Brouwer from the Netherlands: “I took a picture of this enormous bug in the Andes mountians in Equador. It was around 12 cm long. Do you know what it is?”

Amazonian Giant Lacewing

Amazonian Giant Lacewing

It took some research, but this monstrosity is an Amazonian Giant Lacewing. As the name suggests, it is a species in the family of lacewings (Chrysopidae), order Neuroptera. It occurs all over the Amazonian rain forest and feeds of bugs and their eggs.