I love these creatures, and one of the benefits of "mothing" at night is that you can find other species, like snakes, or on this occasion, quite a few of these lovely Flower Mantis turned up, near Brides Pool Road. This was in late November.
All pictures taken by my son Jack.
Quite distinctive for the mantis species, the Flower Mantis (Creobrotar gemmata) has a stocky body, large eyes, and a yellow patch with a black outline on its back.
You can tell these pictures were taken at night, as the eyes of the Mantis turn very dark at night, to help their extraordinary vision. See the picture below and compare it with one i took during the day, earlier in the year.
See how much paler the eyes are.
