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🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨 The Orchid Mantis, scientifically known as Hymenopus coronatus, is a remarkable creature renowned for its stunning floral appearance and remarkable camouflage. The Orchid Mantis showcases an incredible adaptation to mimic orchid flowers. Females display a vivid white or pink coloration, while males typically exhibit a predominantly green hue. Orchid Mantises are native to Southeast Asia, particularly found in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. They inhabit tropical forests where orchids and other flowering plants are abundant. These mantises are ambush predators, relying on their floral mimicry to attract unsuspecting prey. They are typically solitary and territorial, preferring to live alone rather than in groups.

🚨 ARTHROPOD OF THE DAY 🚨 Of the 60,000 species of crustaceans on Earth, Japanese spider crabs are the largest, spanning up to 12.5 feet from the tip of one front claw to the other. They’re also one of the world’s largest arthropods. Japanese spider crabs live on the Pacific side of Japan as far south as Taiwan and at chilly depths ranging from 164 feet to as low as 1,640 feet. (They spawn at the shallower end of that spectrum.) In these waters, their mottled orange-and-white bodies, cream-colored undersides, and spiny, oval carapaces blend in with the rocks on the ocean floor. Those round shells and long legs give Japanese spider crabs an arachnid-like look, hence their common name. These slow-moving crabs don’t hunt, preferring to scavenge for dead animal or plant matter, though they may also eat live fish or invertebrates such as other crustaceans.