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I came upon this bizarre creature one morning while birding with clients at the Paithona stream. To me this little animal seemed like some kind of a cross between a mantis and a stick insect (later a friend Lee from Malaysia confirmed its actual name for me)

Its camouflage was so incredible that I had almost entirely missed seeing it despite the fact that it was over four inches long and sitting on a bare branch out in the open.

As I continued photographing and observing it with fascination I noticed that it was actually hunting. A large white rhomboid shaped pad immediately behind its head seemed to serve as some sort of a lure for flying insects. I suppose they were being fooled into believing the pad to be a white flower.

A small moth made two attempts to land on the pad and the Mantis tried unsuccessfully to snatch it both times. But I figure the moth had not realized the danger for it made a third attempt to land and in a split second the mantis had grabbed it! Then, using its long front limbs, it fastidious dismembered the little flying insect and immediately began devouring it piece by piece while I clicked away with my camera barely four inches from its face!