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Photo#203262
Unicorn posing - Phyllovates chlorophaea - male

Unicorn posing - Phyllovates chlorophaea - Male
World Birding Center HQ at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park, Hidalgo County, Texas, USA
November 24, 2006
When not either eating or moving, this species frequently poses with one foreleg held more or less straight out in front of the body, and the other bent so that the last two sections (which form the "pincer" to grasp prey) jut upward at an angle. I have photographed this on at least three different occasions, over a period of several months. Am not certain if this somehow improves their ability to grab prey, or if it somehow enhances their camouflage, or if it is just some random quirk of the species with no adaptive function.

camouflage posing
I am sure that this pose is to enhance camouflage and not to catch prey. I see similar postures in other mantid species. Prey is grasped between the femur and tibia of the front legs. This is a fearful looking mantid.

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