Posts Tagged: camouflage
Quick! Find the Damselfly!
Quick! Find the damselfly! This damselfly (below) is so camouflaged that it's difficult to see her. Her? She's a female Argia vivida, as identified by Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis; and dragonfly/damselfly/butterfly...
This female damselfly, Argia vivida, can barely be distinguished from the twig she's resting on. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Perfect Camouflage
What a perfect camouflage! Have you ever seen a green praying mantis hiding among the green growth in your garden? Concealed. Disguised. Camouflaged. The praying mantis is a patient insect. It will lurk for hours in its familiar prayer-like position, ready to ambush passing prey, usually an...
Camouflaged praying mantis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Exposed! Praying mantis peering around green stems. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's for Dinner?
The praying mantis isn't at all concerned about culinary choices. It doesn't worry about who's coming to dinner, only that dinner will come. This aggressive, predatory insect will eat just about anything it can get its claws on, entomologists agree. That includes bees, butterflies, grasshoppers,...
The praying mantis, camouflaged, lies in wait. Hmmm, is that camera edible?(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A praying mantis awaits prey. Note its forelegs with strong spikes for grabbing and grasping prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)