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Acanthops erosula, Leticia, Colombia An astonishing discovery by Henriette (my girlfriend) during a night tour. Whilst a macro and flash photo reveals this to be a living thing, it&#039;s very hard to recognize it as such with your own eyes, even after somebody has pointed it out.<br />
<figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/167959/acanthops_erosula_leticia_colombia.html" title="Acanthops erosula, Leticia, Colombia"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/2/167959_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=gx%2BYCUqnFtAKGG%2BJqfqLVfQxWqc%3D" width="200" height="196" alt="Acanthops erosula, Leticia, Colombia An astonishing discovery by Henriette (my girlfriend) during a night tour. Whilst a macro and flash photo reveals this to be a living thing, it&#039;s very hard to recognize it as such with your own eyes, even after somebody has pointed it out.<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/167960/acanthops_erosula_leticia_colombia.html<br />
ID reference:<br />
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133218992<br />
<br />
A similar camouflage expert we found 7 years earlier:<br />
<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53629/moss_mantis_inrida_colombia.html Acanthops erosula,Colombia,Colombia 2024,Geotagged,Leticia,South America,Spring,World" /></a></figure><br />
ID reference:<br />
<a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133218992" rel="nofollow">https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133218992</a><br />
<br />
A similar camouflage expert we found 7 years earlier:<br />
<figure class="photo"><a href="https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53629/moss_mantis_inrida_colombia.html" title="Moss Mantis, In&iacute;rida, Colombia"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.jungledragon.com/images/2/53629_thumb.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=05GMT0V3GWVNE7GGM1R2&Expires=1759968010&Signature=xcMYGQSAO5D2yGCSmb0MLXXENps%3D" width="200" height="158" alt="Moss Mantis, In&iacute;rida, Colombia One of the weirdest and most beautiful insects I&#039;ve yet laid my eyes on. Be sure to zoom in, this one has a lot of detail. I&#039;m thinking it is a Acanthops sp, but that&#039;s just a theory for now. Full disclosure: another tourist took this from a field trip and brought it back to the hotel. A practice I do not approve of, but since it was here anyway, I was too tempted to not capture it.<br />
<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53628/moss_mantis_-_front_view_inrida_colombia.html<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53627/moss_mantis_-_head_closeup_inrida_colombia.html<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53626/moss_mantis_-_side_view_inrida_colombia.html Colombia,Guain&iacute;a,In&iacute;rida,South America,World" /></a></figure> Acanthops erosula,Colombia,Colombia 2024,Geotagged,Leticia,South America,Spring,World Click/tap to enlarge

Acanthops erosula, Leticia, Colombia

An astonishing discovery by Henriette (my girlfriend) during a night tour. Whilst a macro and flash photo reveals this to be a living thing, it's very hard to recognize it as such with your own eyes, even after somebody has pointed it out.

Acanthops erosula, Leticia, Colombia An astonishing discovery by Henriette (my girlfriend) during a night tour. Whilst a macro and flash photo reveals this to be a living thing, it's very hard to recognize it as such with your own eyes, even after somebody has pointed it out.<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/167960/acanthops_erosula_leticia_colombia.html<br />
ID reference:<br />
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133218992<br />
<br />
A similar camouflage expert we found 7 years earlier:<br />
<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53629/moss_mantis_inrida_colombia.html Acanthops erosula,Colombia,Colombia 2024,Geotagged,Leticia,South America,Spring,World

ID reference:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/133218992

A similar camouflage expert we found 7 years earlier:
Moss Mantis, Inírida, Colombia One of the weirdest and most beautiful insects I've yet laid my eyes on. Be sure to zoom in, this one has a lot of detail. I'm thinking it is a Acanthops sp, but that's just a theory for now. Full disclosure: another tourist took this from a field trip and brought it back to the hotel. A practice I do not approve of, but since it was here anyway, I was too tempted to not capture it.<br />
<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53628/moss_mantis_-_front_view_inrida_colombia.html<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53627/moss_mantis_-_head_closeup_inrida_colombia.html<br />
https://www.jungledragon.com/image/53626/moss_mantis_-_side_view_inrida_colombia.html Colombia,Guainía,Inírida,South America,World

    comments (2)

  1. Not enough words to describe the uniqueness of this one. Posted 5 months ago
    1. Nature continues to surprise! Posted 5 months ago

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Acanthops erosula is a species of mantis in the Acanthops genus.

Similar species: Mantises
Species identified by Ferdy Christant
View Ferdy Christant's profile

By Ferdy Christant

All rights reserved
Uploaded Mar 25, 2025. Captured Oct 10, 2024 20:48 in 677GR333+R4.
  • NIKON D850
  • f/16.0
  • 1/250s
  • ISO100
  • 105mm