Insect Macro Photography.

I'ts a praying mantis, in French "mante religieuse".

In Alabama it's called "What the F*** is that?" :)

Looks like he made a praying mantis + butterfly mashup. I don't think there's anything like that that actually exists in nature.

I don't know what it is. Send it to me and I'll have Dr. Foot take a look at it for you.

it's a mantis, "Stagomantis carolina" I believe, or it could be a young mantis after a molt. Young mantids go through ten molts before adulthood, and for a time afterwards they are milky white in color. Though the most widely seen color of mantis is green, they can range in color from green to tan to pink.

No, it's probably real, likely some sort of flower mantis. There's a nice pic of an Indian Flower Mantis on Wikipedia for comparison. This one is not identical but I'd guess it's from a similar tropical species.

I love the pattern on the wings... but holy crap, if I saw that thing I'd run for the hills.

Hi folks,yes it is a praying mantis,Pseudocreobotra Wahlbergii,the spiny flower mantis.
Its a native of south east Africa.
Quite popular amongst "bug" hobyists.
Have a look here for another stunner of a photo
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=4011123.
A relation to the Indian flower mantis,Creoboter Meleagris.

Both cool and icky at the same time.

We know this: Bullets don't affect it- and it lives only to hate.

Looks suspiciously like the hive queen from the Ender's Game series to me.

Beautiful and colorful. But I must say if one ever landed on me, I'd probably cause myself some serious injuries...

You can pick those things up without any worries, no need to run. They don't pinch very hard and usually give up trying to mess with you and just crawl around your hand trying to get away.

It is an African flower mantis, also known as a number 9 mantis. You can purchase them at insect shows for about $30 bucks. They make great pets. they are not normally showing their wings in defense like that one.

Awwww it's a cute little gonna-poison-me-thing i want one :D.ITs a mantis and its after it's molt,

That isn`t a real animal.. look, you can see the wings don`t suit. And that`s a very strange colour, too.

Wow, the ignorance to anything foreign... I work most of my time around African jungles - this is a real praying mantis - and if I had my external HDD with me then I would upload a simmilar image I took in Guinea Conakry in 2004 - of the same species of mantis. The one I came across displayed a much deeper emerald green body, but a mantis can alter its colour in the same way as a chameleon to better disguise itself when hunting their prey. Excellent photo and well done!

jeez guys. it's real, you should look up the orchid mantids. they're beautiful in color.

its a cool bug

Those wings aren't even close to a butterfly's. The shape and the nervature are completely different. Look at the front edge of the forewings. Butterflies don't have that kind of frame. Look at the aft wings - they're fan-shaped, which means they fold ove the abdomen. Butterfly wings don't fold.

It's not unusual for a mantis to have wings. All insects have wings, but most just don't use them. Even swimming and burrowing insects have wings. Even ants have them.

This photo is not a fake.

Is it use telephoto or micro Lens????

IDK BUT IT IS ONE UGLY bUG

@mac justice It's called an Orchid Mantis. You want to know how I know? Because you can catch the damn thing on Animal Crossing, of course it "Exists in nature" Dumbass