Description
Cat Mantis – Giant African Stick Mantis – Heterochaeta orientalis
They are called a cat mantis because if you look closely at their eyes, they are pointy and resemble cat ears. They tolerate being handled very, very well. Many people will mistake them for stick insects.
Chaeta is a stick mimic, with it’s long and slender appearance, strikingly resembling a part of a branch. Chaeta has two conical protrusions on top of both eyes that are distinguished even from the hatchling stage. Chaeta generally has a medium to dark brown coloration and sometimes develops tinges of green, usually on the femur and tibia in its nymph stages. It is also not unusual to see red horns, with blue and green eye colour
Stick mantis and twig mantis are common names applied to numerous species of mantis that mimic sticks or twigs as camouflage. Often the name serves to identify entire genera such as is the case with:
- Brunneria (including Brunner’s stick mantis, the Brazilian stick mantis and the small-winged stick mantis)
- Hoplocorypha (the African stick mantises)
- Paratoxodera (including the Borneo stick mantis and the giant Malaysian stick mantis)
- Popa (African twig mantis)
In cases, some but not all members of a genera are called by a variation of one of these names. For example:
- Archimantis latistyla (Australian stick mantis)
- Pseudovates peruviana (Peruvian stick mantis)
ref: Wikipedia
