Margaret Neville lives on a farm in South Africa, and she likes nothing more than taking a stroll through her surroundings. Seemingly, she was enjoying the view of her garden one morning when a pretty bug caught her eye. There, on a branch in her lavender bush, was an insect unlike any she’d seen before: “I was amazed at first sight,” Neville told The Dodo.
And it’s easy to see why.
Margaret found out that it is called a flower mantis. A species of mantis, they camouflage themselves in flowers.
Experts said she looked like a pregnant female as you could see her broadening frilled-edged belly beginning to extend sideways. She loves to hunt bees that visit the flowers of herbs such as purple and rose pelargonium, she sits at the flowers and hunts using her camouflage. We have named her Miss Frilly Pants but she is more formally known as Miss Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergi (Spiny flower mantis)
Miss Frilly Pants – The Flower Mantis
Miss Frilly Pants the Flower Mantis of Nkutu Valley, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa makes her first short film. Here you can see she is a natural born beauty with not a smudge of photoshop needed for her debut roll. www.waterfallretreatcentre.com
Posted by Waterfall Retreat & Environmental Centre on Thursday, September 12, 2019
