“It was with great luck that I spotted the Praying Mantis catching a butterfly – a Paris Peacock (Papilio paris paris). The mantis consumed the butterfly right in front of me. It was the 8th November 2016 and I was then in Nagaland, India.”
The Paris Peacock is a swallowtail butterfly found in the Indian subcontinent as well as Southeast Asia (below).
The Praying Mantis is found mainly in the tropics (below). It has a large triangular head and a pair of bulbous eyes. Its forelegs are spiked and modified for grasping preys. It stays motionless until an insect passes by whereupon it grasps it with its spiked forelegs and eats it live.
KC Tsang
Singapore
8th February 2017
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