Praying mantis

Today I was quietly moving around in the garden, like a small game hunter, looking for any creature movement at all! After a short period of time, I thought I saw a green twig moving in the daisy bush, although there was no breeze.

I started shooting a few frames towards this movement, as I could not see very clearly what the insect was. As soon as I moved a bit closer, it saw me and was gone in an instant, moving deeper into the bush, totally out of sight.

On getting the images onto the computer I did a bit of quick research and found out that it was a nymph Garden Mantis or more commonly called an Australian Green Praying Mantis (Orthodera ministralis)

The Garden Mantis inhabits all parts of Australia, and can often be found well hidden in leafy garden bushes and even in some of our native scrub. See him looking GREENER.

The term "praying mantis" comes from the typical "prayer-like" posture with folded fore-limbs. In my brief research, what surprised me is that the closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches. Not my favourite insects due to the damage they can cause.
A fitting creature for my 150th blip today.