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Bruno

@letmebugyou

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• Professional breeder🦋
• Specialized in arthropods🪲
• Self-taught entomology enthusiast📚
Sharing my view of the world🌎

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Right on time for spooky season!🎃
This monster still has no common name, so I'll rightfully call it the Behemoth Demon Katydid in honor of it's curved tusk-like mandibles👹

An endemism of the Atlantic Rainforest biome of Southeastern Brazil, 𝘊𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘧. 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘦𝘴 looks like if a katydid fused with a mantis and then took steroids to enhance itself. Unlike most insects where females are the larger and usually fiercer ones, males of the Behemoth Demon Katydid are notoriously more spiny, bulkier and bigger than the females. They have uniquely evolved to hunt just like a praying mantis, with their thorny front legs acting exactly like a mantis's raptorials, granting them apex predator status among the insect world. Their oversized head in proportion to their body harbors powerful muscles, which paired up with the scissor-like mandibles, are able to easily slice through flesh. A true demon of the insect world🔥 by @letmebugyou

This is the closest you'll get to seeing a real-life fairy!🧚🏻
Meet the Glasswing Butterfly (𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘢 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘢), as the name indicates, they have completely clear and see-through wings with anti-glare properties to avoid light reflection, which could potentially attract predators! This is an evolutionary adaptation that helps them to hide in plain sight, without the use of colors for camouflage.
Check out how the sunlight simply passes through the wings without too much reflection, just like polarized glasses would do! 👓☀️ by @letmebugyou

This marvelously colorful display belongs to a Dead-Leaf Peacock Katydid species! (𝘖𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘱.)
This genus is endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest biome, located in South-Eastern Brazil. Just like some moths and mantids, these katydids are neatly camouflaged and perfectly blend in to their surroundings with their dead leaf appearance, but if faced with a predator, they put out a dazzling and colorful display! As soon as I approached it and picked it up, it flashed it's conspicuous underwings to try and scare me off. I dare say it's one of the most spectacular threat displays I have ever witnessed! by @letmebugyou

Let’s play a game! Find the hidden bug!🔍
This one is extra hard to spot, I really doubt you can see it at first, their camouflage is unmatched… Only a trained eye can discern it from the environment🧐
Let me know in the comments if you were able to spot it at the first try!

#typophyllum #deadleafkatydid #katydid #orthoptera #rainforest by @letmebugyou

A twig? Nope. Wait… a stick insect? Nope. Then a stick…mantis?? Yes!! Most people don’t know about them, stick mantises do exist and their camouflage has nothing to envy their herbivorous counterparts, the stick insects. Check it out on the video: They will even go the extra mile, stretch out and press their legs against their body to perfectly simulate a fallen twig!
Meet the Amazon stick mantis, 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘴𝘱.! by @letmebugyou

Here’s something totally different and bizarre. This little guy who looks ready for the Rio Carnaval is a leaf-footed stink bug from the genus 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳, and he takes his dress code to the next level of flamboyance🦚🕺🏻
It’s dramatic and striking colors are an obvious indicator that they are distasteful and toxic to anyone who dares to try and eat it!
Despite what one might think, they are a serious Passionfruit pest and are commonly eradicated🥺 by @letmebugyou

In a world recently flooded with AI fakeness and misinformation, I bring to you this real, existent marvel of nature, meticulously carved by evolution🍂🌈
This is a Peacock katydid. This particular species, 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢 𝘴𝘱., has the ability to mimic either brown & dead, or live & green leaves, depending on the plant they grew on. An extremely unique endemism from the Atlantic Rainforest biome of South-Eastern Brazil, they evolved these brilliantly colored eyespots on their hindwings to scare off predators.
The background rainforest sounds were so soothing that I decided to leave the video’s original audio along with the music. Enjoy! by @letmebugyou

The greatest growth often comes from the greatest challenges.
This Avocado mantis (𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢) is going through a delicate procedure that oftentimes takes days to be fully completed, where it's wings will finally unfurl after a few hours as she enters her adult stage, her exoskeleton will harden in the next 2-3 days enough for her to resume hunting, and her vibrant green & yellow colors will show up after about 1 week by @letmebugyou

Nope, this is not AI😉
These are leaf-mimic katydids (𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢) and they blow my mind. They have an incredible variety of colors and wing patterns within the same species. Depending on the area they settle to live, if it's among injured leaves they will naturally develop wing patterns and color shades that perfectly match a damaged leaf🍂(left one), while if it settles among fresh green leaves, they will switch to a younger leaf appearance🍃(right one).
Incredibly striking on my finger, but perfectly invisible in nature! by @letmebugyou

This bizarre insect is not a butterfly or a moth... but the largest species of all Peacock Katydids: The Amazon Peacock Katydid! (𝘗𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘻𝘢 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘢)🦚🦗
They rely on their extremely well adapted camouflage to survive, mimicking a brown, damaged dead leaf while at rest. But if anything bothers them, they will pop open their brightly colored wings like a jack-in-the-box to scare off any potential predators!
It has always been one of my childhood dreams to some day find this insect. My inner child was thrilled when I spotted this beauty among the dense jungle foliage! by @letmebugyou

Birth of a predatory conehead katydid (𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘤𝘧. 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘢 "𝘉𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘴") in x7 speed.
This whole process takes about 5 minutes. It's incredible how they instinctively know how to pull out their antennae by @letmebugyou

Peruvian moss mantis are breathtaking. The drab colors, cryptic movements and intricate body shapes make it a wonderful insect to observe. They are practically impossible to spot in the rainforest unless you have an extremely keen and well-trained eye! by @letmebugyou