Common green mantis emerges

I have included this first picture to give you an idea of the size of this baby mantis.
He was looking for a place to hide in order to moult.......

and soon found one anongst the leaves of a shrub.

I have put in black arrows in the picture above to show you the skin he left behind.

He blended in very well with the shadows and look like of spiffy in this new skin. :)

Giant or Common Green Mantis

The Giant or Common Green Mantis (sphodromantis gastrica sp. mantidae) are found all over SA and are the cutest little things.
This nymph does not have its wings yet. Their diet consist mainly of caterpillars.

They get to be about 3-3.5 inches in length and when young, their tails fold up to look like a leaf.

This one was happily sitting on my finger preening itself.