Thistle Mantis with Prey

Description:

very well camouflaged mantis, about 3.5 cm in length, feeding on a butterfly (Pontia sp.); "A mantis will catch prey items and grip them with grasping, spiked forelegs. The praying mantis usually holds its prey with one arm between the head and thorax, and the other on the abdomen. Then, if the prey does not resist, the mantis will eat it alive. However, if the prey does resist, the mantis will often eat it head first, some species of mantises being more prone to the behaviour than others. Unlike sucking predatory arthropods, a mantis does not liquefy prey tissues or drain its prey's body fluids, but simply slices and chews it with its mandibles as convenient, often from one end." ~wiki

Habitat:

spotted on an Iphiona sp. plant in a coastal desert wadi