finally captured him/her!!

[leo]

Here's a pic of my mantis. Must have come in on some live rock (I last purchased rock a year ago!!). Any ideas on the actual species? Sex?

 

[Isis]

Nice shrimp! Are you going to keep him/her?

 

[RicksReefs]

can't tell from pic
but possibly Gonodactylus curacaoensis?

 

[Gonodactylus]

It's not Neogonodactylus curacaoensis - no blue on the outside of raptorial dactyls - propodus articulation. Do we know if the live rock was from the Caribbean or the Indo-Pacific? I can think of a couple of Indo-Pacific species with this coloration (and even one from the Eastern Pacific, but the I can't nail it down for Caribbean species. What color is the meral spot on the inside of the raptorial appendages?

Roy

 

[DreamScape]

more pics!
more pics!

 

[Fcamdog]

Dream,

Will you ship me some VB stubbies? I will pay nicely!

Fidel

 

[leo]

Here's a picture of the backside.
Isis, I probably will keep it. Just have to get it a home. Right now I have two 20 long's and a 20 high all aged about 18 months. What's the minimum size for a mantis? Can I keep him in a bare tank with just a piece of PVC? I want to see it every now and then.
Gonodactylus, the rock is from Gulf View. Isn't that Carribbean? About your other question; I wish I knew what the heck you are saying! Does this second picture help? I appreciate your expertise, but I'm not at that level.

 

[leo]

double post,,, seems to be my habit today

 

[Ananda]

the raptorial appendages are the "clubber" or "spearer" arms: http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/intro/what.htm

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/pics/smit2rc.htm has a good picture of meral spots....

 

[David MC Lee]

How did you catch it? I have at least two maybe more. I've never seen them just hear them.

 

[leo]

David, I was lucky enough to see it crawl into a piece of rock. I immediately took it out, got a bucket of freshwater, and dipped him. He still wouldn't come out so I broke off some of the rock to expose the cave. Finally, he fell out. Just lucky, I guess.