Wild Orchids

[Chiniensis]

I have been fortunate over the past week to get a nymph and two adult females Orchid mantis. All three are wild caught and I am hopeful that the females will start laying soon.

There have been a few posts about the pink colouring of the nymphs recently, so I thought you may find it interesting to see the plant on which I found a nymph a while back. There were three nymphs within about 6 feet of each other, all on the same plant, Melastoma malabathricum.

The Orchid mantis are from Tapah,at the base of the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. The plant and the other nymphs were found about 30 miles from the heart of Kuala Lumpur but in deep jungle!

David

 

[Montana]

That's awesome! I would love to visit places like this someday. So many amazing insects and plants! And everything grows like wild!

Have you seen any Nepenthes on your adventures? Those are my favorite plants!

 

[Coneja]

Wow! Very cool! You must know where to look to have found so many, or are they fairly common?

So pretty: the patterns on that adult and the bright green on the nymph!

 

[hibiscusmile]

What are the brown things in the 1st pic amoung the leaves?

 

[Reptiliatus]

My uncle and aunt live in Kuala Lumpur. I've been hoping to make a visit down to see them...and the wildlife .

 

[Chiniensis]

Monatana - yes, I have seen lost of nepenthes. They are reasonably common in the Cameron Highlands. Some time ago I was fortunate enogh to climb Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, which is the home of awesome nepenthes.

Sorry Hibiscusmile - the brown things are just dead leaves!

Coneja - I was lucky. I have only ever seen them in one spot in the jungle. The same spot on different years. The ones in these photos are actually some I have obtained from aborigine insect collectors in the Highlands. They are not very common and I would struggle to find them in an area as vast as that.

 

[Mantiskid]

Wow...those are amazing!!!!! You are SO lucky.

 

[Montana]

Monatana - yes, I have seen lost of nepenthes. They are reasonably common in the Cameron Highlands. Some time ago I was fortunate enogh to climb Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, which is the home of awesome nepenthes.

Wow! Someday I'd like to visit all of these Nepenthes habitats... the Cameron Highlands, Mt. Kinabalu, Mt. Trusmadi, and even some of the newly-dicovered habitats in the Phillipines. If you find any seeds of interesting species, I'd probably be interested in buying some! I'm growing a few in my window right now but there's a local Nepenthes grower here that is growing the vast majority of Nepenthes species... and they all look fantastic! I'm lucky enough to visit him every now and then.

 

[Chiniensis]

Hi Montana, slightly off topic for mantis but I found these pics yesterday while I was looking for some other photos. These are quite common in the Cameron Highlands. They are not recent photos (1999!) and they are not great as they have been on my laptop for ages!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Those are really nice pics if u ask me!

 

[MandellaMandy123]

I wish pitcher plants grew wild around here! Not fair...

 

[Precarious]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sticky]

I wish pitcher plants grew wild around here! Not fair...

We have pitcher plants in Maine!