Can you see it? It’s there, right in front of you.
This apparently innocent video shows the moment an orchid mantis strikes with deadly precision.
Its prey, an unaware grasshopper, doesn’t have a chance.
Little does it know, it is in the beady-eyed sights of one of the insect kingdom’s most ruthless predators.
Equal parts beautiful and terrifying, the orchid mantis expertly disguises itself against the crisp white of its plant home.
Its cover is so effective, it is almost impossible to spot until the moment it lashes out, catching the grasshopper between its iron jaws.
The hunter insects precision is perfect and the grasshopper hasn’t a chance.
Its body is striped with pink highlights, while its small horn and white eyes point intently at its prey.
The camouflage creatures are incredibly rare, and therefore incredibly expensive. Juvenile nymphs sell for as much as £40.
This apparently innocent video shows a grasshopper sat on a house plant, blissfully unaware
The orchid mantis’ cover is so effective, it is almost impossible to spot until the moment it lashes out, catching the grasshopper between its iron jaws
Females can grow to 6 centimeter long and males 3 centimeter.
Orchid mantises, or hymenopus coronatus, hail from the rainforests of Southeast Asia and are known by various common names including the walking flower mantis.
They live mainly on a diet of smaller insect prey like crickets, flies, beetles and bees.
However, the deadly hunters have also been known to devour lizards, frogs, turtles, bird and mice.
This one in particular belongs to insect breeder Adrian Kozakiewicz, who lives in Germany and runs Insecthaus, a social media account where he shares videos and pictures of his creepy crawly pets.
His videos range from the thrilling to the disgusting, and the downright bizarre.
In Adrian’s ‘Insect Room’ he keeps jumping spiders, giant atlas caterpillars, devil mantises, snails the size of a human head and the heaviest cockroaches in the world.