Hymenopus coronatus
Encyclopedia
Hymenopus coronatus is a mantis
from Malaysia, Indonesia
n, and Sumatra
n rain forests. These mantises thrive in humid, warm areas of south Asian rain forests. These mantids can be found on papaya
trees, orchids, or frangipani trees with flowers. In captivity, the nymph's diet can consist mainly of fruit flies
, but they will eat other small insects. Adults will eat anything they can catch; this includes small lizard
s, bee
s without stingers, house flies, butterflies
, moth
s and other non-venomous
flying insects. Although primarily carnivorous, orchid mantises have been observed eating little bits of banana, this behavior is thought to balance the mantis's vitamin intake through the juices of the banana (which are rich in potassium).
When threatened, the mantis either tries to confuse the predator, or scare it. If lifted into the air, they become vicious, attempting to bite everything within reach. Their predators include lizards, geckos
, jumping spiders, toad
s, bird
s, rodent
s, bat
s, and shrew
s.
This species is characterized by brilliant and beautiful coloring and unusual structure; their four walking legs resemble flower petals, and the coloration of the bodies tends to match the environment in which they were raised. H. coronatus shows some of the most pronounced sexual dimorphism of any species of mantis; the males are generally less than half the size of the females. Young nymphs resemble ant
s with orange and black bodies. As the mantis grows in its environment, its color comes to more closely match the coloration of its surroundings with each passing molt. It has been theorized that humidity and intensity of light play a large role in the final coloration of the adult.
Mantis
Mantis is the common name of any insect in the order Mantodea, also commonly known as praying mantises. The word itself means "prophet" in Latin and Greek...
from Malaysia, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
n, and Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
n rain forests. These mantises thrive in humid, warm areas of south Asian rain forests. These mantids can be found on papaya
Papaya
The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
trees, orchids, or frangipani trees with flowers. In captivity, the nymph's diet can consist mainly of fruit flies
Drosophilidae
Drosophilidae is a diverse, cosmopolitan family of flies, which includes fruit flies. Another family of flies called Tephritidae also includes fruit flies. The best known species of Drosophilidae is Drosophila melanogaster, within the genus Drosophila, and this species Is used extensively for...
, but they will eat other small insects. Adults will eat anything they can catch; this includes small lizard
Lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
s, bee
Bee
Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...
s without stingers, house flies, butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
, moth
Moth
A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...
s and other non-venomous
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
flying insects. Although primarily carnivorous, orchid mantises have been observed eating little bits of banana, this behavior is thought to balance the mantis's vitamin intake through the juices of the banana (which are rich in potassium).
When threatened, the mantis either tries to confuse the predator, or scare it. If lifted into the air, they become vicious, attempting to bite everything within reach. Their predators include lizards, geckos
GeckOS
GeckOS is an experimental operating system for MOS 6502 and compatible processors. It offers some Unix-like functionality including preemptive multitasking, multithreading, semaphores, signals, binary relocation, TCP/IP networking via SLIP and a 6502 standard library.GeckOS includes native support...
, jumping spiders, toad
Toad
A toad is any of a number of species of amphibians in the order Anura characterized by dry, leathery skin , short legs, and snoat-like parotoid glands...
s, bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and shrew
Shrew
A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...
s.
This species is characterized by brilliant and beautiful coloring and unusual structure; their four walking legs resemble flower petals, and the coloration of the bodies tends to match the environment in which they were raised. H. coronatus shows some of the most pronounced sexual dimorphism of any species of mantis; the males are generally less than half the size of the females. Young nymphs resemble ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s with orange and black bodies. As the mantis grows in its environment, its color comes to more closely match the coloration of its surroundings with each passing molt. It has been theorized that humidity and intensity of light play a large role in the final coloration of the adult.