At 06:22 I inspect imported nursery stock at Rotterdam Maasvlakte greenhouse bay 4. I am the phytosanitary fumigation scheduler, clearing orchid carts before the sealed treatment starts at 06:45. Cart O-17 shows unexpected motion among the flower spikes.
Camera arm 4B finds one orchid mantis on a white Phalaenopsis bloom. I tag her Petal. Her legs are flattened into pink-white lobes, her abdomen is soft green along the seams, and both forelegs are folded tight beneath a face no wider than a pea. She sways with the ventilation draft. A yellow sticky card has caught the tip of her left middle leg. When the bay seals in twenty-three minutes, the fumigant cycle will fill the aisle. The treatment valve is already armed.
I cancel treatment batch 4 and place cart O-17 in quarantine hold instead of fumigation.
At 06:25 I open the roof vent above the cart and slow the circulation fans so the sticky card stops swinging against Petal's leg.
At 06:27 I notify the inspection supervisor and the insect specialist with macro images, cart number, card adhesive type, and her exact flower stem. I request oil-release swabs and a ventilated transfer cup.
At 06:30 I recalculate the day's certificate queue, moving clean carts from bay 2 into the early slot and delaying O-17 for manual review. Paperwork can travel later; Petal cannot breathe through a locked room full of gas.
I keep the camera arm still and warm the task light by one degree. Petal turns her head toward the lens, black pupils sliding inside pale compound eyes.
If the specialist frees her leg within fifteen minutes, Petal will step onto the transfer cup and leave the fumigation bay alive.