Never seen this color on a spiny Flower before:

[gripen]

I still maintain Bleph. Could be wrong, probably am. But I feel like being a smart ###### lately so I'm challenging them on the sp.

 

[Bryce08]

hmmmmm, sightly interesting....with flowers and surroundings to match the mantis....

 

[twolfe]

That is the darkest color morph I have seen. It has the striped antenna of the p wahlbergii. Patrickfraser tried the color experiment, but I don't remember how it turned out. I did notice a slight variation with my older nymphs in the fall. The one that often sat on mauve colored roses was blushing pink. And one with yellow flowers in the enclosure was definitely more yellow. But I did not have enough color in the enclosures. After they molted to adults, they all looked identical and lost the color variation.

 

[guapoalto049]

The colors could be enhanced a bit, but still beautiful. I think its the UV light plus colored flower combo; I had all mine in straight purple environments and one ended up with a few highlights at presub and sub...that's it!

Sorry to say gripen, it is a P. wahlbergii. The mantid in the photo has a double-crested facial ornament, while B. mendica has a single crest on the face. They do look surprisingly similar, considering they're as related as humans to bears!

 

[gripen]

The colors could be enhanced a bit, but still beautiful. I think its the UV light plus colored flower combo; I had all mine in straight purple environments and one ended up with a few highlights at presub and sub...that's it!

Sorry to say gripen, it is a P. wahlbergii. The mantid in the photo has a double-crested facial ornament, while B. mendica has a single crest on the face. They do look surprisingly similar, considering they're as related as humans to bears!

Ah yes I see that now thanks. I still do not believe that that image is unaltered though.

 

[brancsikia339]

What study or basis do you have to make this claim? The concept that mantid colors can be influenced by the colors in their surroundings is false but I'd love to be proven wrong.

http://www.gurdersmantis.com/spinyflowercolourexp.htm

 

[lunarstorm]

Thanks for the link. That's a cool experiment but unfortunately, it mirrors everything I've seen thus far: attempts to prove this phenomenon but lack tangible results from the single attempt, much less something that's repeatable.

I maintain my stance that coloration is a product of genetics (not environment) but would be delighted to find a study proving otherwise.