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Project Noah Nature School
Blepharopsis mendica
"Empusids are slender and are identified by the spines on their protibia which have alternatively one long spine and two to four shorter spines. They also have leaf-like lobes on the femora. The antennae of the males are elongate and doubly pectinate (comb-like) rather than thin and bare as usually found in the mantids." ~reference
spotted in a coastal desert wadi
Difficult to snap a photo of him as he was so well hidden in the plant, but you can see the comb-like antennae and an interesting spot of blue on the inside leg; aka Devil's Flower Mantis, Thistle Mantis, Arab Mantis
Spotted on May 18, 2013
Submitted on Jun 5, 2013
8 Comments
Thanks, injica!
Lovely spotting :) It looks so cute and the colors are again perfect ;)
Yes, the antennae are neat, aren't they? Thanks!
Beautiful Mantid, love the unusual antennae.
the antennas looks great. nice spotting.
And thank you, ForestDragon, for the ID. Can you have a look at this nymph spotting http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/238..., is it also this species?
Thank you, Stefania!
Lovely! Possibly Blepheropsis mendica. He looks pretty similar and they are found in your area.