Getting ready for the hop

[Prajwal J Ullal]

ID: Mantis nymph

Spotted this tiny beauty roaming around the leaves of a shrub, the tiny beauty was almost like a speck of dust, only on close observation realized it was a beautiful mantis nymph. Luckily though it wasn’t camera shy and calmly moved around without running off or hiding underneath the leaf. It kept traversing from one leaf to other, not sure if in search of any prey, and at times jumped off from the tip of the leaf. This frame was just a moment before the jump, where it moved almost to the tip of the leaf, balancing itself well and, later, hopped off to the lower leaf.

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro
F/11
Shutterspeed 1/125
ISO 500
Handheld, external flash fired

Location: Nagla trail

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good to see it when it is about to jump. I think the lower shutter speed has resulted in lower sharpness. Overall the frame gives an idea of a very natural event happening in the insect world. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Its amazing how you do these minute observations and photograph them, helps everyone to understand more about the insect world. Thanks for sharing.