Animal Photography - Mantis religiosa

Insects are certainly among the animals that, on average, we are more inclined to consider as inferior animals, sometimes even disgusting. However, in these first days of spring, it happened several times to find myself observing them intent in their daily life, and in the frenetic activities that characterize this part of the year.

In particular, in recent days my attention has been captured by a young sub-adult female of praying mantis (Mantis religiosa), quietly climbing on the flowers of my garden to enjoy the sun

Recognizing the sex of an insect can be tricky, but in the case of mantises it is a fairly simple exercise. The abdomen of the female is in fact much larger than that of the male, having to host numerous eggs. Furthermore, the abdomen is made up of eight segments in the male, which descend to only six in the female. Finally, in the case of adult individuals, the female is considerably larger than the male.

I would have liked to spend a lot more time observing her, but once she became aware of my presence, as you can see in the last photo, the young mantis was annoyed enough to put up her classic "threat parade".