The world around us is full of amazing mysteries. People are most fascinated by those areas they find difficult to penetrate. One of these is insects. There are some species that are simply astonishing in appearance.
Orchid mantis
This insect resembles an orchid so much that it's even called a wandering flower. Each of its limbs resembles a different part of the flower. The legs resemble the petals and stems of the plant, and even the head resembles a small bud. Its color is pink and white, with characteristic stripes and iridescent hues that perfectly mimic the orchid. It also changes color depending on the background. This perfect combination helps the praying mantis not only remain undetected by predators but also hunt for itself.
An insect's camouflage is called aggressive mimicry. And its diet includes more than just flies and crickets. Given the opportunity, it will eat a fellow insect that gets too close, or even something larger than itself: a mouse, a frog, or a bird.
Glass butterfly
Despite the enormous diversity of butterflies in nature, this marvelous insect is unmistakable. Although it isn't distinguished by its vibrant colors or enormous size, it does have one distinctive feature. Its wings are completely transparent, with only a dark border running along the edge. When viewed from certain angles, they shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow.
But that's not all. The Greta Ota, also known as the glasswing butterfly, is venomous. Therefore, it has virtually no natural enemies.
Silkworm
This amazing, large butterfly has a hairy body and resembles a giant moth. Silkworms have practically lost the ability to fly. The butterfly only crawls and eats nothing throughout its life, as its mouthparts are undeveloped. However, caterpillars feed continuously until pupation.
The butterflies are very beautiful: they are gray-white in color, have notched wings, and the males have large, comb-like antennae. Interestingly, the species currently cannot survive without humans.
Golden tortoise beetle
This leaf beetle looks as if it were crafted by a master jeweler. Its color is strikingly reminiscent of gold, and it got its name from the shape of its shell. The beetle also has a unique ability to change color. Its transparent shell contains a liquid. It can control the amount of this liquid and change color depending on the light.
This occurs especially often in males during the mating season: at this time, their color becomes almost red. This miniature beetle measures only 5-7 mm. After the beetle dies, its shell stops iridescent and changing color.
Fan-whiskered beetle
The beetle's unique, beautiful antennae give it an incredible appearance. They resemble curved antennae with many segments. The male's antennae are larger and fluffier, as they help him find a mate. Because of their antennae, the beetle is also known as the radar beetle.
The insect itself is small, ranging from 10 to 25 mm, gray-black in color with white spots. It inhabits swamps and grassy thickets.
Caterpillar of Hyalophora cecropia
This is the caterpillar of one of the largest butterflies in the world. It itself is quite impressive in size, reaching 12 cm.
The caterpillar itself is green, but the growths on its back resemble buds. They are also multicolored: red, yellow, and blue. The butterfly itself can have a wingspan of up to 16 cm or even more. These unusual caterpillars live on maple, cherry, and birch trees.
Madagascar Comet
This longest butterfly in the world is called the comet because of its unique tail. It is forked and reaches a length of 14-16 cm. The Madagascar comet is a member of the peacock-eye butterfly family, and its wings have characteristic large, eye-shaped spots.
This unique insect lives for only 2-3 days and during this time it eats nothing: it only relies on the nutrients it accumulated as a caterpillar.
