Orchid Mantis

How to tell it apart

• Flattened, petal-shaped lobes on the walking legs — the character that makes it look like a flower
• White to pink, sometimes shifting with humidity and moult
• Females much larger than males, roughly double the length
• Nymphs start red and black, resembling an unpalatable ant
• Sits still in the open on foliage rather than hiding

Where you’ll find it

Malaysia, Indonesia and neighbouring parts of Southeast Asia. Not a North American animal — any you meet here is a kept one.

Rainforest and forest edge in Southeast Asia, on shrubs and foliage.

How it behaves

The popular account is that it hides inside orchids. Field research indicates something more interesting: it does not appear to mimic any particular flower, and pollinators approach it in open foliage more readily than they approach real flowers nearby. It works as a lure rather than as camouflage, which reverses the usual story. Females sit still and wait; the much smaller males move around to find them and are eaten reasonably often in the process.

You’ve found one indoors

Nothing in the wild — it does not occur outside Southeast Asia. If you are keeping one, the single most common cause of death is a moult in an enclosure without enough vertical clearance: it needs to hang free at roughly three times its body length to shed cleanly.

Common questions

Commonly confused with

• Spiny Flower Mantis Harmless

Keep identifying

Identify another animal from a photo or return to the Mantises guide.

Next: Chinese Mantis