Category: crypsis and mimicry

The conehead mantis

November 24, 2014 • 2:45 pm

I had no idea this creature existed, so it’s a bit of a thrill to see it for the first time. The photo below shows two specimens of the conehead mantis, Empusa pennata, endemic to southern Europe and Turkey. This lovely photograph is from Project Noah. The blobs on the branch are part of the plant, not the insect’s legs. But the insect still looks like part of the branch.

Screen shot 2014-11-23 at 6.53.13 PM

Here are two more photos of coneheads, the first from Cosmos. This surely could be a model for a nefarious Alien-like space creature:

20111110_mantis
Pboto:: Veer Images

Do you suppose it consumes mass quantities of insects?

And another, from Trek Nature, showing the variability in color. The page adds this (notice the Latin name for the European praying mantis):

This species of mantis, although similar in size to the common European Praying mantis (Mantis religiosa), is easily distinguished by the protrusion from its crown. Both male and females, even from first hatching carry this tall extension giving them a very alien appearance. They live in areas that are warm and dry and use their cryptic colouring of either greens and pinks or various shades of brown to keep them hidden from predators. The female may grow to a length of 10cm while the male is shorter and slimmer. The male has distinctive ‘feather’ type antennae as shown on the image above.

empusa_pennata
Photo by Mehmet Karababa (taken in Turkey)

There are several videos of this creature on YouTube; all show it moving erratically, which may be a form of crypsis, mimicking a branch blown by irregular winds. That was one theory, which was mine, but then I remembered that some chameleons move erratically in that way as well. Perhaps readers have some suggestions; I’m sure there’s discussion about this movement in the scientific literature.

Here’s the Finnish mammal

September 14, 2014 • 9:35 am

by Matthew Cobb

Sophie Scott’s mystery mammal she spotted in a Finnish birch forest was, as many either saw or guessed, an elk, which was hiding behind a tree in the background of her photo. Elk is another name for moose (and vice versa) – their Latin name is Alces alces, and they are the largest extant member of the deer family.

They are not the same species or even genus as caribou/reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), which are also large deer, but which do not have the distinctive palmate antlers of the moose/elk.

BxcNDdWIUAA02y3

The most famous elk is the extinct Giant Irish Elk, which used to roam across much of northern Europe before disappearing as the ice retreated and our ancestors moved north to hunt. Other explanations of their extinction are available (I know, we posted this a couple of years back):

irish-elk

We are lucky enough to have an Irish Elk skull and antlers on display in the foyer of the Michael Smith Building where I work at the University of Manchester. This cartoon appears on the explanatory panel along with some more serious scientific data.

Pika-boo: here’s the lagomorph

August 25, 2014 • 1:08 pm

Earlier today I posted reader Jeremy’s photo of a pika, both in close-up and then in the distance in its rocky environs.  I looked at it for the longest time, even in the enlarged photo like the first one below, and couldn’t find the damn thing. Then I finally spotted it; it’s almost as hard as a nightjar.

I’ll put the original photo up first (click to enlarge it even more if you still want to look for the pika), and then a photo with the pika circled, sent by Jeremy (he called it “pika-boo”!).  Hint: if you look at the original, the beast is just to the right of center:

pika-habitat

.

.

.

.

The reveal:

Pika boo (1)

And an enlarged view:

Screen Shot 2014-08-25 at 10.38.34 AM