Who knew bugs could look this good? Not Margaret Neville, who found this positively enchanting insect on a lavender bush on her farm in South Africa.
“I was amazed at first sight,” she told The Dodo . She’s not alone.
The insect that balanced delicately on her finger looked almost too beautiful to be real.
It could have been crafted by a jeweler or painted by an artist, but it’s a real, living bug.
The petal-like structures all over its body are for camouflage.
And they’re pretty ideally suited for keeping it safe in that lavender bush. Turns out, it’s a flower mantis, an insect known for disguising itself against pretty floral backdrops.
Before setting it back on its bush, Margaret took some video and gave the mantis a fitting name: Miss Frilly Pants.
“She has spent the entire month of September living on my lavender,” said Margaret. “She is still there now.” The bug beauty seems to have made herself at home!
Margaret has shared her good fortune on Facebook, and it has earned Miss Frilly Pants plenty of fans.
The followers on her page absolutely fawned over Miss Frilly Pants, as you would probably expect them to.
And Margaret is keeping them updated on all of Miss Frilly Pants’s comings and goings.
Like when she found herself in the company of a male flower mantis. It might not turn out too well for the male, but the result could be many more just like her gracing Margaret’s garden!
h/t: The Dodo
Last Updated on October 1, 2019 by Ryan Ford
