Black and White (tiny) mantis (ID?)

[DensityMan]

Including pics, but couldn't get the little guy to pose with her meral spots exposed. /shrug

Came in on a small rock of 'watermelon' musrooms and was living in a small chamber/cave with the entrance only big enough for it's body. No secondary exit.

Here goes:

Not sure where her point of origin was at this time.

 

[biomekanic]

She's a cute little bugger. Don't spend to much time on this, I'm sure Tim is a jealous little beast.

 

[T-T-Trigger]

I am probably way off, but it looks an awful lot shape-wise like a P. ciliata. Does it have any hammers? I can't make out any.

 

[T-T-Trigger]

In fact, the longer I look at them, the more it looks like a ciliata.

Also, that might explain the lack of a secondary exit - it couldn't make one.

 

[DensityMan]

I've been contemplating that myself... especially since I found it due to it darting out of the burrow to nab food and then swim back down into thehole...

I can't get a close enough shot to confirm nor deny the existance of smashers.

I'll not hold my breath though, since everything I've read/heard is that 'piercers' don't come in as hitchhikers due to their having to burrow in the sand instead of in rock.

(Still, it would be pretty cool to have found a 'piercer'. May have to speed up the creation of the 20L and think about putting in a Tim-proof divider... *GRIN*)

 

[cephalopoder]

Ok, I am taking a stab, G.lanchesteri? Nice looking what ever it is.

 

[Gonodactylus]

Way off, guys. This is Haptosquilla glyptocercus. The telson is the give away. It is highly crenulated and is used to plug opponents cavities during eviction attempts.

It occurs from Guam and the Marshalls to the Indian Ocean. It occurs as high in the intertidal as any stomatopod and reaches a maximum size of around 35-40 mm.

This is a species that I work on frequently. They are incredibly hardy and live for years.

Roy

 

[Shinobi9P]

Dr Roy's awesome, lol

 

[Herbert T. Kornfeld]

smasher or spearer?

 

[DensityMan]

Thanks for the name Roy (and the attempts by everyone else).

Herbert asks a good question though. I'm assumming piercer from the inclusion of "quilla" in the genus name. Is that too broad a generalization on my part?

After googling the full name you gave me I was able to find several referrence papers/stats/bibliographies by you and a few other people, but nothing in layman-speak. Anything you can tell me about its preferred diet or its expected behaviour?

Thanks again!

 

[Gonodactylus]

Haptosquilla is a gonodactyloid. All members of the genus are smashers I think I figured it in my 1976 Scientific American article on stomatopods. Diet includes anything small - snails, hermits, crabs, but they will also hawk thinkgs out of the water column. We often feed ours adult brine shrimp.

This is a very color polymorphic species, but large females are often black and males a mottled, lighter green or brown. Yours looks to be a male.

Roy

 

[DensityMan]

Thanks again Roy!

Here's a couple questions that I think I know the answer to already in general terms, but what about this specific instance:

Would this species (when provided a burrow large enough for it, but too small for another) be able to coexist with a G. smithii (who jumps at his own shadow)?

In the midst of upgrading Tim's abode from a sumpless 10g to a 20L with the 10g as a sump. I'm tired of the water-quality dips and want to give a go at getting rid of the cyano/dino matts clogging up the sand bed. Would I need to divide this new residence into two apartments or would the Larger (nearly 3 inch) G.smithii ignore the smaller (3/4 inch) H. glyptocercus as a non-threat?

Planning on implementing the divide already, but if they could co-exist without it it would make for a more interesting/less distracting display.

Thanks in advance (even if it's the practical answer that I don't really want)

 

[Gonodactylus]

H. g live in very tight cavities with the entrance just their diameter. With the proper small cavity, it probably could live with a G.s. The major consideration is a cavity refuge that the G.s can't get into when the H.g. molts.

 

[DensityMan]

I'll see what I can work out then. But given the size differences I think it could be done (especially if the H.g. doesn't get any bigger than 4cm - that's so tiny!).

Thanks again Doc!

 

[sdm]

What happened to him/her?

 

[ReneX]

I was wondering the same...she sure is cute.

 

[Tballa]

I have a 3" G. Smithii, with a 1.5" Gono ? in the same tank, and they're fine. MY smaller one was put in a couple months earlier, so by the time my Smithii came, he already had enough tunnels. Go for it! Mine is working great!

 

[Gonodactylus]

Unless you mean by tunnel, a cavity in the live rock itself, it is only a matter of time until the G. smithii takes out the smaller animal. If the smaller one has a cavity in the rock that the larger animal can't enter, it may make it.

Roy

 

[DensityMan]

In my case I found the Haptosquilla glyptocercus a home with another local reefer instead of risking a confrontation with Tim.

My little G. smithii just isn't as little as he used to be...

 

[Tballa]

Oh thats too bad that he isn't still with you. Roy, yes, my smaller one has the tunnels in the liverock, not the Smithii. I stated that kindof badly, sorry. But yah, mine has been working great for the last couple weeks, and its too bad that DensityMan, you didn't keep it!