Camouflage

The praying mantis (Orthodera novaezealandiae) makes its living by standing out in the open in broad daylight, waiting for something to naively land on its leaf.  To be successful it has to stand very, very still, and to look like part of the leaf.  Closer

This is quite a large nymph (not yet adult), and the stubs of wings and wing cases are obvious.  They moult as they grow and the wings are grown after the fourth moult.

After a miserable morning of repeatedly trying to open my best camera and still getting the lens error I searched online for a solution.  There's an awful lot of rubbish out there, but I found one  guy who suggested strategies for directing maximum power to the lens mechanism, and it worked!  Once the lens was open I gave it a good clean and now it seems fine.  What a relief.

Extra Shot: Pool abstract.