This figure appears in Lees’ recent research paper and demonstrates how Google Gemini (a) might fabricate a red-winged blackbird or (c) manipulate a real image to make it appear as a distinct species. Image (b) is a real photograph, by David Theobald. Credit: Nature Ecology & Evolution (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-026-03141-y
You need to tread carefully among the leaf litter of the Indonesian scrubland and its tropical rainforests. The dead leaves might seem caught in a gentle breeze, but there's more here than meets the eye. Try plucking one from the ground and you'll find an insect caught in the act of prayer.
Not a leaf, but a dead leaf mantis.
Dead leaf mantises are a marvel, their thorax sculpted by evolution to mimic the veins of dying vegetation. This clever act of camouflage helps them hide from predators and ambush prey.
Kris Anderson, an independent researcher and mantis specialist, has seen more than his fair share of this genus, known as Deroplatys, in his decades collecting and categorizing Mantodea, the order of insects that includes all mantises.
