Mantis id please

[stringcheese]

bump

 

[Gonodactylus]

I was on Itutaki and missed this one. It is a light phase of G. chiragra.

Roy

 

[stringcheese]

Here are some more pics I took yesterday. Sorry one is not in focus though it shows the meral spots.
Whichever species this is he is active during the day. He closes his den at night. He is not very fun or interactive. He only eats flske food and has not touched even one of his hermit crabs. I'm going to transplant him into my office tank and look for a more interesting specimin for my home tank.

 

[stringcheese]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10444633#post10444633 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gonodactylus
I was on Itutaki and missed this one. It is a light phase of G. chiragra.

Roy

Itutaki? Sounds neat. Is that Japan?

I thought that looked right but until today i didn't completely understand the meral spot.
My Brother n law is currently attending Berkley my Sister dives there often.
Thanks for the ID! I wish he would've been something else!lol

 

[psychodave]

Thats an awesome G. Chiragra! My first mantis was a male G. Chiragra named Mitch! He was an awesome mantis! Your gunna love that guy, mine was very interactive and roamed his tank every day untill the end!

 

[stringcheese]

bump

 

[deepboy]

Is It a male G. Chiragra? On Roy's list it says male's are darker and mine is as dark if not darker then the third photo down and has the nice red color on her like yours Stringcheese with red in between her body segments! Is the body color not always the case?

 

[Gonodactylus]

G. chiragra.

Roy

 

[deepboy]

Yes G. chiragra but male or female and does the darkness of there color always tell give away there sex?

 

[psychodave]

in order to determin the sex you need to look at its underside. just infront of its pleopods, the little paddle like legs, you will or wont see 2 black tubes...if you see the tubes its a male, if not...its female

 

[Gonodactylus]

Generally, males are darker, but not always. On Lizard Island where I do most of my work, males and females are both cream colored with no dark olive at all.

Roy

 

[deepboy]

I've seen two distingtive black bold U shaped markings just above its first set of legs! I'm not sure if what I'm looking at is the female opening but I have'nt spotted any male parts! Does anyone have a better pic of say the female parts of a O. scyllarus or G. chiragra or are they not as noticable on a bigger mantis?

 

[Gonodactylus]

Take a look at the thread pinned above on stomatopod sex. I included a scanned image of female gonopores. they look the same in all stomatopods.

Roy

 

[stringcheese]

Update on My G. chiragra here...

My Family named her BAMboozle. She is doing well in her little 15g tank. Unfortunately my Valentine puffer stuck his nose someplace he shouldn't have and got a straight shot to the snout. His teeth all fell out and his nose was pushed straight in. If you've ever watched the original National Lampoons Vacation he looked like Wally after Clark Griswald punched him.

He has since died and been eaten.

BAMboozle started a molt about a week and a half ago. I hope she comes out of his shell soon! I'll post pictures of the new and improved terror of the tank when she does finally emerge.

Thanks again Dr. Roy!