Beautiful: The Devil's Flower Mantis is one of the largest flower mantis' and takes its name form its ability to mimic flowers to avoid dangersWith their bulging goggle-eyes and technicolour skin tones, these bizarre but beautiful creatures could be aliens sent from outer space.
But as foreign as they may seem, they are in fact some of the world's most unusual creepy crawlies, caught on camera in minute detail.
From a Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis posing with elegance for the camera, to a Schizocephala mantis capturing a fly in mid-air, these incredible close up pictures of insects are a sight to behold.
Strike a pose: This Giant Malaysian Shield Praying Mantis looks almost as though it is about to break into a dance in Igor's studio in Munich, GermanyThey were taken by biochemist and photographer Igor Siwanowicz who has spent the last seven years carefully acquiring and breeding these strange insects.
He has worked to painstakingly document these beautiful creatures, who, mimicking flowers to growing fearsome horns, have all developed their own ways of surviving the wild.
Tough guy: This Malaysian Jungle Nymph, left, has rows of razor-sharp spikes on it's head to ward off predators while the Plain Mantis, right, can mimic a butterfly
Cunning: A Schizocephala Mantis captures a fly mid air. Igor studies the habits and physiology of these compelling creatures, which gives him the edge when it comes to producing thought-provoking imageryTaken in a home studio in Munich, Germany, these are the latest images from his ever growing collection.
Igor studies the habits and physiology of these compelling creatures, which gives him the edge when it comes to producing thought-provoking imagery.
Igor cites his main influence as the works of the designer of the monster from the Alien films, HR Giger who was obsessed with the paradox of turning the human form into an alien one.
Don't mess: When threatened, the Spiny Flower Mantis shows the yellow from their un-opened wings. They are a small species growing to aprox. 40 mm in length 
Leaf me alone: The South American dead leaf mantis mimics dead leaves to both hide from predators and prey
The Conehead Mantis, left, lives and hides in long grass and can grow up to 10cm. Right, a Leaf Grasshopper on a bud
Bizarre: A close-up of a the head of Dragonhead Eumegalodon
The Preying Mantis: When directly threatened, many Preying mantises, left and right, stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide
Girl power: This female Malaysian Orchid Praying Mantis is, at 60mm, long, twice the size of it's diminutive male counterpart
Silent but deadly: A Leaf Bug, left, hides on a leaf while a Spiny Flower Mantis eats another bug, right
Phone home: A Heterohaeta, left, is the world's largest mantis pictured, while a giant devil's flower mantis, right, could easily be an alien sent from space
Committed: Igor Siwanowicz, left, studies the habits and physiology of these compelling creatures, which gives him the edge when it comes to producing thought-provoking imagery, rightsource: dailymail
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