Giant dead leaf mantis
The giant dead leaf mantis is a praying mantis that looks exactly like a crumpled brown leaf. It has a wide, flat body and wings with lines like the veins of a leaf. When the wind blows, it rocks gently, just like a real leaf.
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Fun facts
If something scares it, it drops to the ground and lies still like a fallen leaf.
It can also open its black underwings to show big eyespots that frighten hungry animals away.
It is bigger than other dead leaf mantises. Females grow to about 8 centimetres long.
Males are smaller and lighter and often a bit more yellowish than the females.
Its colour can be anything from orangey brown to almost black.
Most asked questions about Giant dead leaf mantis
?Is the dead leaf mantis dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people. Its scary display is only a trick.
?How big is the giant dead leaf mantis?
Females are about 7.5 to 8 centimetres long, and males about 6.5 to 7 centimetres.
?How does the dead leaf mantis hide?
It looks like a dead leaf, rocks like a leaf in the wind, and drops to the ground if disturbed.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Deroplatys desiccata
- Group
- Mantises
- Family
- Deroplatyidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Mantodea > Deroplatyidae
- Lives on
- Asia
Where the facts come from
- Deroplatys desiccata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Adrian Pingstone. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.
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