An amazing finding during a mantis's dinner-table drama (as observed by a non-expert in forest-edge uplands in the Canary Islands, Aug 2020).
1/6
A praying mantis -- a predator of insects that is as grimly formidable as it looks -- flies in noisily for a late-evening dinner...
2/6
He disappears briefly...
soon emerging from the moonless gloom to the edge of a side-lit terrace..
keeping an eye on the moths and other insects that gather around its grand, luminous stage...
3/6
Or is the stage already this gecko's?...
And whether or not it was actually aiming for the mantis, the latter takes evasive action and moves rapidly away...
4/6
This species of mantis has very prominent eye-like markings, one on each of its forearms.
You can just about see them, even in this sideways pose...
5/6
... which it deploys to great effect, forming a large face... in the direction of the gecko...
It also spreads its wings. This isn't to look larger from the front, ie behind the 'face'...
Instead... Wait for it...
6/6
I wasn't able to capture the sound the #mantis made at this point, but it actually hissed repeatedly and incredibly loudly -- like a snake, so to speak -- by scratching its wings with regular upward movements of its abdomen...
Amazing #behaviour!
PS, the #gecko stayed away
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