My new mantis -- G. smithii?

[Alesia]

Well, some of you might remember that I posted a topic about a quick mantis set-up a few weeks ago, in order to rescue a mantis from a LFS who seemed very keen to catch and kill him. I spent a little more than I wanted to, but I'm very happy with his set up, and he's safe and sound at my house now. I've had him for about a week and he seems to have settled in without a problem -- he actively hunts the small supply of hermits/snails I have for him, spends much of his day refurbishing his burrow, and is very active/interactive (a little TOO interactive when I need to do maintenance).

He's in a Mini-bow 5 with a 20w 50/50 coralife bulb, 7 lbs of live rock, 5 lbs live sand, AC 20 powerhead, and a bit of temporary caulerpa for nitrate export.

So the only question is -- what is he? I have believed from the beginning that he is a G. smithii, but posting his pics on another forum have given me doubts. Someone suggested that he doesn't look "right" for a smithii and is more likely to be a N. oerstedii.

Pro-smithii:
-Purple meral spot with white ring
-Yellow antennal scales with blue "fringe"
-Pink "clubs" on dactyls

Anti-smithii
-Odd color, not as much color as a smithii
-Small black "specks" on carapace (only a handful of spots, no mottling)

I still believe he is a G. smithii. Anyone else have some thoughts?

His current digs:

Picture taken in really poor lighting:

Picture of him at home where meral spots are visible:

Regardless of his species, he's very interactive and I like his personality, but I would love to know what he is!

 

[Pea-brain]

Take the second picture showing the taelson again in better lighting. I think the deciding characteristic here will be the red spot near the telson. I'm betting it is a oerstedii too........

 

[Alesia]

I'd love to take the picture again, but that will require me catching him or getting very lucky with a pic in the tank. I'll do my best, or at least do my best to look for the red spot at the base of the uropods.

In the mean time, in case it helps, here is another picture taken on the same day. The color is poor but you can see the shape of the telson:

I've been comparing it to two pictures from Roy's List (these two pictures belong to Dr. Roy, not me):

N. oerstedii -- seems to be the wrong shape and the uropods on mine have no banding or spotting:

G. smithii -- seems to be the wrong color overall but the uropod color looks the same to me:

I'm not at all trying to argue the point or be difficult, I just don't think the characteristics all line up yet for me and I would like to have it make sense!

 

[G.SMITHII]

i say no on the g.smithii

the mottled color on the arm there is the reason i say so.

maybe its a baby.

Paging Dr. Roy, Dr. Roy?

 

[Gonodactylus]

It is a female Neogonodactylus oerstedii. With N. oerstedii, you can't go on general body color and pattern. This is a highly variable species ranging from solid light green to white mottle. The characters that distinguish this animal are the black spots scattered over the body that are present in female N. oerstedii and the purple meral spots.

Roy

 

[Alesia]

Thanks Dr. Roy! I had been really wondering. Sorry for the confusion.