Thistle Mantis

The thistle mantis, Blepharopsis mendica, is the sole species of its genus in the praying mantis family Empusidae, also known as the Egyptian flower mantis or Arab mantis. It ranges across North Africa, parts of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, southern Asia, and the Canary Islands, in countries including Afghanistan, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Cyprus. It lives among herbaceous vegetation and spiny bushes, its coloring camouflaging it among leaves and dry desert plants, and when threatened it rotates its head and thorax and spreads its wings to display bright colors on its forelegs and hindwings while appearing larger.