history1970s:

lampfaced:

Such a beautiful girl. I’m guessing these photos were taken shorty after she molted, as with most arthropods, their color doesn’t fully come in until after their new exoskeleton has been given some time to dry and harden after shedding the old one, and as a result they often appear extremely faded at first. I know the color can take over 24 hours at times to completely come in, or at least that was the case with a set of Idolomantis photos I found a couple years back documenting the color changing process.

I feel this particular lady is more deserving of one of the lesser-used common names of this species, which is the Indian Rose Mantis.

someday i’m gonna marry this bug