The orchid mantis exhibits high ontogenetic colouration variety and intersexual life history differences

Masquerade, the resemblance of animals to inedible or inanimate objects, exists universally throughout the animal kingdom, especially in arthropods. However, masquerade has received little attention from biologists and is often misinterpreted as mimicry by the public and even by scientists, as a consequence of the lack of systematic biological information for masqueraders. Therefore, using the orchid mantis Hymenopus coronatus (Insecta: Mantodea), a classic masquerader, as the study species, we asked: (1) what is the population abundance and life cycle? (2) whether it closely coexists with specific plant or not? (3) how its colour morph changes across life stages? and (4) whether and how the key environmental factors affect its life cycle? Results suggested that the orchid mantis (1) had an extremely low wild population abundance; (2) did not coexist with specific plant; (3) exhibited colour morph diversity; (4) might match its reproductive and nymph developmental period with local seasonal fluctuations of temperature and precipitation. We then compared its life history differences between the two sexes. The results indicated that the two sexes can be remarkably different in development duration, growth rate, lifespan and body weight. This study is the first systematic investigation of the orchid mantis; the results provide useful natural history data for ecologists and evolutionary biologists to understand the adaptive strategies of elusive appearance of masqueraders.