day two-hundred-and-ninety-four - dead leaf mantis

it's hard to choose which name sounds better - the scientific or the common. deroplatys lobata or dead leaf mantis?

let's be honest... they're both cool, and the bug himself is cool too:

© jem barratt

that's probably the most time i've spent on a drawing for this stupid challenge of mine. although that damselfish did take hours too. and that damned guineafowl.

hang on just a minute. do you think there might be a correlation between effort and quality? surely not. i can't confirm until i start my science degree and learn the difference between correlation and causation ok?

in any case, i love mantises. hence me dating someone with the pseudonym 'the mantis' i guess. but also tiny mantises like to hitch rides on me for some reason. and i'm happy to be their transport, because tiny mantises are cute.

and as you can see the bigger ones aren't bad either.

xj

p.s. i'm not attracted to mantises ok?