Praying Mantis: Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder

in photography •  5 years ago  (edited)

The praying mantis is named because of the way it holds its front two legs, looking like they are in a praying position.

Their front legs are used to snag insect prey. Although praying mantes are sold in some garden stores as a beneficial insect, it doesn’t discriminate between eating harmful versus beneficial insects.

It will eat a beneficial honey bee just as likely as it will eat a damaging caterpillar!

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"Creepy-Crawly"

The praying mantis is also known for its two large compound eyes, adding to its “alien-like” appearance. Less well known, however, are the three simple eyes found between the compound eyes on its triangle-shaped head. The two large eyes allow the mantis to have stereoscopic vision, one of only two insects in the world that have this. The praying mantis is the only insect able to turn its head 180 degrees. Some praying mantises have one ear, located on their abdomen. It doesn’t hear most sounds very well with this ear, but it is actually able to hear high-pitched bat echolocation “peeps.” This lets the praying mantis evade bats that want to eat them as a midnight snack.

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"You Funny Looking Too"

Praying mantises mate in the late summer/early fall, and yes, the rumors are true – the female will sometimes either eat her mate after mating or will even bite his head off in the middle of the act (and the body will finish the job without the head!).

Try bleaching the disturbing visual image you conjure from your memory next time you see a praying mantis!

If you see a female who at first glance appears to be holding her mate in her arms lovingly, check again. Most likely she is munching on his head! (Source https://durangoherald.com/articles/109837)

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"Come, my Pretty"

The first image is my entry for Shadow Photo Contest created by the lovely @melinda010100 and hosted this week by @shasta. The theme for this week is "Bug Shadows."

Learn more by clicking here: https://steemit.com/shadowphoto/@melinda010100/shadow-photo-contest-round-86-bug-shadows

Also entering for the talented @whatisnew's weekly insectpub challenge. Learn more here: https://steemit.com/butterflyday/@whatisnew/thursday-is-butterfly-day-and-insect-day-giveaway-week-30

A song came to mind about the female mantis. It's titled "Evil Woman" a by ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). Click below to play it:

Images taken with Samsung Galaxy Note8

Thank you for taking time to stop by and visit my blog, as I truly appreciate everyone's continued support! Have a terrific day!

© 2019 Nina Haskin. All rights reserved

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Edit (08/10/2019):

Editing your previous posts does not change the fact that they were plagiarized or copy & pasted from somewhere else. All text is recorded to the blockchain and publicly available.

Those posting with the intent to evade abuse detection are quickly added to the @cheetah blacklist and ineligible for appeals.

In two years of being on Steemit, I never had an issue or plagiarized anything. I cite my sources and give credit where credit is due. Sorry I had one omission that I was trying to add long before someone from Steemcleaners commented on my post. I'm not perfect. Nobody is.

It looks like you have earned an average of about 2.3 cents per post not bad. Not as good as this though. lol
Their blog posts earn even more.

@steemcleaners #rewardpoolrape https://steemit.com/@steemcleaners/comments

This is what I should have written about @whatsup for #shitpostSunday

Flagged for plagiarism @steemflagrewards ..
Come on, you should know better @ninahaskin! Spinning old content from someone else doesn't make it your own.. At least attribute the sources, especially since you are being rewarded for someone else's ideas.
Source
Source

Both of these sources are the same content, posted within days of each other, but way before this post came to be.

You are right, I do know better, and I already planned to edit to cite my source but am having a heck of a time trying to find it in my Google browsing history on my smartphone which is all I use for to create my Steemit content. Furthermore, neither of the two sources you cite were the one I used and there are many more with the same info @kharma.scribbles so its hard to locate the exact one I used. You saw yourself when you searched!

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  • plagiarism
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Still beating a dead horse, I see @steemflagrewards
Unbelievable. My first offense -- an honest oversight -- and you basically chop my head off. I am not perfect. Nobody is.

That's for our record. That's all.

Thanks for explaining. Seemed a bit overkill.

Hahaha, I love the mantids my friend and have posted some big ones in the past.
A study reflects that sexual cannibalism in mantids has to do with the eggs of the female, the males body material is passed into the female and thus she can lay more eggs. The male by virtue of his death provides nourishment for his offspring.
www.australiangeographic.com

This world would be childless if human males were to do this hahaha

Great shots and a lovely description here.
Blessings!

Isn't that just gross? Makes the female tarantula seem normal! Thanks for the information and good thing you gave the source!

Great photo. I just bought a macro lens so Im keen to find a cool critter to capture!

Posted using Partiko Android

Yay -- a new grownup toy! Fun times coming your way! If you're like me, spiders aren't good subjects. While I'm busy looking through the lens and focusing, I'm afraid it could be moving directly towards me and the camera!🕷

So, so many life ledsons jokes could be spun from this post. However since I enjoy having my head attached, I best just leave this alone lol.

Lol! We can revisit this one at a future time and come up with all kinds of crude comments! Happy Friday, Paul! @old-guy-photos

Love the mantis, we get a few where I live, music superb choice @ninahaskin

Thanks! They certainly are intriguing, alien-looking likeable insects. Happy you enjoyed the song choice too @joanstewart

Great post and photos @ninahaskin! You captured an awesome shadow of the mantis! Last year I saw so many praying mantis and this year I saw not one. Possibly, I just haven't been looking in the right places or haven't been out very much..lol. 😉

Thank you Dee! Or it could be that your feathered friends snacked on all of them

You are very welcome Nina! I had that same thought this morning as I heard those darn bluejays making a commotion again. Then again we do have a lot of spiders lately but I think a mantis would have a good fighting shot in that match. 🤔

The more you know about them it becomes much more difficult to be fond of them! Great shadow photo! Thanks for entering!

Thank you! @Melinda010100 I've missed your #shadowcontest and find myself collecting "future" photos wherever I go 😀 Yes, the females certainly can be flat-out murderers and I hope I never witness seeing one kill a male in that manner firsthand because I like the strange-looking insects! The two in my photographs live on separate sides of my home, and I've seen a couple babies.

Glad to hear you are shadow hunting! I have never seen a praying mantis in all the years I have lived here, so it's fun to see yours!

Thank you, Melinda. Watch, now you'll end up seeing one! Do you have walking sticks?

I saw my first walking stick a few weeks ago. Did you know praying mantis eat hummingbirds? I don't think I like them very much.

Yes, I mentioned that disturbing information in one of my replies, to @hangin. I think Im learning toward liking walking sticks better now!

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Excellent! Thanks for keeping my statistics up to date! @steemitboard

I have always been somewhat fascinated by Praying Mantis for some reason and I am not sure why, that first shot is a cool entry for the contest good luck

Love that cartoon it gave me a chuckle

Happy the joke put a smile on your face too, Jay! Mantid's eyes and strange faces along with those weird t-rex looking arms are quite intriguing. Thanks for stopping by😀

Ohh yes they do have such a prehistoric look to them have a super Sunday

Great shot! This sure is a winner! 😍😂

Thanks for the insightful description of the mantis.

You're welcome @gingbabida It's enjoyable and interesting to learn new things while reading other people's posts on Steemit. Have a great weekend!💕

What a fun read to go along with your great photos. : ) Thanks for using #insectpub tag @ninahaskin and if you want to be entered for a prize, please put the link to this post here. Have a great weekend! : )

Appreciate the reminder -- I must've had another senior moment. It's always a pleasure to hear your post and images are enjoyed.💯 Thank you for hosting the #insectpub and #butterflyday tags and weekly contest! @whatisnew

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Bang, I did it again... I just resteemed your post!
Week 4 of my contest just started...check it out!
Pixresteemer is also listed as promoter on The Steemians Directory

Thank you! @pixresteemer

Oh they are "Evil Woman" and here i am thinking they were a holy Buddhist bug always meditating and praying...lol...how wrong was i 🤣 🤣

They are posers and religious imposters! @hangin
Disturbingly, I read that praying mantis have been known to lurk by hummingbird feeders and prey on unlucky feathered victims. I'm keeping an eye on my hummingbird feeder!🌸

That is unbelievable had no idea that these mantis can be so evil i had one land on my hand once and he was doing the praying act i must find that photo and post it on @whatisnew next week 😜

Please do! Was it one of the flying praying mantes I read about? I also have walking stick insects around my home.

It was one of them flying mantes.

Yikes! I have yet to see one that can take flight

  ·  5 years ago (edited)

This one thought my finger was the runway it was a perfect landing...lol 🤣

Hopefully it wasn't a large mantid or that could have have been a bit frightening!

Nice shots Nina, I read too how female behead the male while mating. Rather creepy, eh?

Thats disgusting. Apparently the female acquires nutrients by eating the male's brain that help the offspring survival rate. Eww!