I think this might just be the most beautiful insect I’ve ever photographed…

When I arrived in the Amazon, the infamous Hooded Mantis was quite high on the list of creatures I wanted to see. So imagine my surprise when, after almost six months working at Manu Biological Station, I stumbled across this one just a few metres from the dining room.

The tail-end of the dry season appears to be peak period for mantises around here, so I’ve seen a few more of these stunning creatures since then, and they never get any less enthralling.

Hooded Mantises spend the majority of their time lying flat, and are almost indistinguishable from a leaf when viewed from above. However, when these insects are on the move, you get an occasional glimpse at what’s under the hood – and the results are truly mesmerising. Vibrant splashes of red, green, yellow and turquoise surround their big, curious eyes, as their spiky forelegs remain ready to pounce at the next potential meal.

One interesting fact about mantises is that, in addition to their two main eyes – which are some of the most advanced of any insect – they also have three more supplementary eyes located in between the two primary ones. These rudimentary eyes are called ocelli, and while they’re only capable of perceiving light and motion, they’re able to detect the movement of potential predators or prey from up to 20 metres away.

Hooded Mantises have particularly prominent ocelli, and you can see one of them as the reflective white spot at the top of the head in these images (the other two ocelli are directly behind it). Most praying mantises also have a single ear in the middle of their chest that they use to detect the ultrasonic calls of bats, but let’s leave that for another day…

The jungles of the Amazon have preposterous products of evolution hiding in every single nook and cranny, and they’re all in desperate need of protection. Almost 20% of the Amazon has been destroyed in the last 50 years, and more is being lost every day. Who knows how many of its secrets have been wiped out before we even had the chance to uncover them…

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Hooded Mantis (Choeradodis stalii), Manu Biological Station, Peru