The Hymenopus coronatu, aka Orchid mantis, is a variety of flower mantis usually found in Malaysia and Indonesia. Doesn’t the mantis pictured look just like an orchid? They hide in the flowers they resemble, waiting for other delicious insects to alight.

 

Perhaps we would never –or rarely– have heard of such a creature if it was not because of the tales and photos the United States Servicemen in the Persian Gulf War and afterwards the Iraq War carried back home. It was said that a giant camel spider crawled into the sleeping bag of a soldier, biting the man while he was asleep. Fortunately, the giant desert camel spiders native to Iraq aren’t venomous. It uses its claws to catch its prey, which is never bigger than the arachnid itself. They are also known for being fast. Giant Camel Spiders have been known to run around 10 MPH. This creature real name is Arachnid Solifugae. “Solifugae” means, in Latin, “flee from the sun”.