Masters of camouflage and mimicry, mantids are predatory cousins of grasshoppers and cockroaches that have evolved forelegs that resemble a serrated barber's blade. With the patience to stay still for hours, alert, binocular vision and colours that blend perfectly with leaves and flowers, mantids wait for palatable meals to present themselves within range before moving in for a stab faster than the blink of an eye. Hardly any floral elements offer a safe refuge, for the 2,000 or more species of insects in the sub-order Mantodea come in all sizes and shapes, resembling leaves, twigs, bark, flowers or debris to evade the attention of both food and foe. Some even disguise themselves as gaunt ladies with gaudy bling and old fashioned shades.
Young mantids lack wings and are thus more vulnerable to predators, including members of their own kind. The ones I have seen appear like spindly black ants and dart around in worker-like fashion to deter hunters, many of which find formicids a bite too tart. If Batesian mimicry fails, the nymph simply leaps off into hopeful safety in the foliage below. Full grown mantids are much less shy, staking out strategic positions where choice prey are liable to land; for instance, stinky ducks who shun showers and hence attract unsavoury buglife. And as if to prove her point, this lady about town (guessing from her size and boldness) proceeded to perform her cosmetic regime with no regard for the discomfiture of her perch. Which isn't any surprise, for she isn't the sort to pull her punches when it comes to men who are ruled by their heads...
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