ID my mantis+Video of feeding!

[ATLL765]

I didn't want to be super lazy with another tired ID my mantis thread, so I've at least done my best to provide some entertainment with it.

Here's a video of my mantis being fed some clam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6BjSBmIAuE

I'm thinking it's a G. Smithii

It has a purple spot on the inside of the upper part of the raptorial appendages like a G.Smithii does, but the tip of the "smasher" or meral spot is not red, but rather the same dark green/brown color that the rest of the body is.

Got this guy for free. FREE! at an LFS near Bethlehem, PA that I just happened to stop at to kill some time with a friend. Couldn't turn down free, so I threw together a 5g tank with live rock and sand I had laying around plus a cheap desk lamp for a light. Interesting tank for ~$100.

 

[young doz]

Its hard to tell in the video but if the spots are as you say i would lean toward that species as well

I haven't seen a Smithii that lacks red colors on the dactyls though.

 

[RyanCastle]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[ATLL765]

Its hard to tell in the video but if the spots are as you say i would lean toward that species as well

I haven't seen a Smithii that lacks red colors on the dactyls though.

Totally spaced that I posted this a few weeks ago. He, well, I thought it was a he, but now it appears he's really a she, lol. Anyways, she molted and is now quite different in appearance. Rather than the dark brown/green she was before, she is now a FAR brighter green.

It's absolutely amazing that it could look so different after one molt. I imagine lighting is the major factor in coloring, so I'll mentioned that I use a simple desk lamp with a 5k bulb. I figure it must be a species that lives in shallow water since I was given it for free at an LFS and I doubt they give away stuff that they paid for. Thus, I assume it was a hitchhiker.

Lots of largish pics, so sorry if this is killing your phone, lol.

Here's some pre-molt pics:

You can see here the purple-ish spots with the white edge fairly clearly.

It's hard to see the "hammers", but there is definitely no red on the dactyl. It's similarly colored to the rest of the mantis.

Post-molt pics:

In both this and the following picture, you can clearly see there is no brown coloring at all. The mantis is now quite bright green, almost yellow in the antennae and telson.

You can see the right raptorial appendage clearly here and again, no red. It is not the color it was before, but now it is white.

You can again see, if you look closely, the circular spot on the inside of the raptorial appendage. It appears a bit more green than before, but that may not be evident in the picture here.

 

[Kharn]

G.smithii to my knowledge with the white rim and dark purple black center, well G.smithii downunder anyway I know you guys get a Neogono branch that we do not.

 

[young doz]

Thats so weird.. two bright green G Smithiis in a matter of two weeks when i've never seen this colouration ever before.

With no red on the appendages

 

[Kharn]

Very polymorphic species.

 

[young doz]

Yeah i know, i've kept many.

Just never seen this variant until now. Looks really nice.

 

[EI Gringo]

There are many regions that have different variants, the 2 Smithiis I've had have also been bright green, I don't know where they were from but they were ofc LR hitchhikers

 

[ATLL765]

I'm just completely astonished at the change in color after her molt. I'm still not 100% it's a she, but it was swimming around after I flushed it out of the burrow so I could get a look at it now that it's been about a week since the molt. Wanted to see if there were any issues...luckily didn't see any or the telltale V distinguishing males.

You can see how much darker it was before the molt. Again, I assume the coloring has a lot to do with the lighting and he's kept under a 5k CFL bulb. I barely turn it on, as there's nothing else in there besides the occasional poor hermit crab.

With those spots, I was 90% that it was a G. Smithii, but like you're all saying, was confused by the lack of other distinguishing marks listed on Roy's list.

I'm really happy to have stumbled across this guy at an LFS that didn't want him. Nothing better than a freebie! Roy Caldwell also lists this as his favorite gonodactylid for the aquarium. He's great, small enough that a 5.5g is large enough for him and I threw it all together with items I already had since it was an unexpected non-purchase, lol. Couldn't have been more than $100 worth of stuff.


Lastly, what's up with the forum not allowing image links from *******? Used imgur after I realized it, but seems like an odd thing to forbid on the site.

EDIT: Geez, guess they really got a beef with 'a particularly small image hosting site'. Can't even type out it's name.