New Tank and Peacock Mantis

[Droptoptex]

Hey guys,

I just picked up a peacock mantis from my LFS, and put him in a 46 gallon bowfront. I'm still trying to figure out if its a male or female, I have looked behind the 3rd pair of legs to look for the gonads, but can't see them. Should it be obvious? Here he/she is, let me know what you think.

 

[Calappidae]

If you don't see them, its female. Theres not many other (reliably accurate) physical traits besides that in O. Scyllarus.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The presence of a pair of gonopods (penises) at the base of the last pair of walking legs in males or a pair of gonopores at the ventral mid line between the first pair of walking legs in females are the most reliable indicators of the sex of O. scyllarus. I've attached a photo of a male with the gonopods hanging down. This male is courting a female and is prematurely ejaculating. You can see the sperm cord leaking out of the gonopod on the left. The gonopods are somewhat erectile. During mating they stiffen. In the next photo you can see a sperm cord sticking out of the gonopore of a female that has just mated.

Color is generally a reliable trait for identifying the sex of mature animals over 5 inches with males having a bright emerald green body color and females tending toward more brown or olive but depth, diet and habitat can confound what color the animal shows.

Another trait that differs in sexually mature O. scyllarus is the polarization of the large spines on the outside of the uropods. In females they are red and not linearly polarized. In mature males they are a frosted pink or white and are linearly polarized turning red as you rotate a polarizing filter 90 degrees. I have attached a photo of a male and female courting (a dance in which they pass by one another) with their uropods close together. The male is on the right.

Roy

 

[Vmazz]

I thought I remember reading somewhere that males are rare so it’s probably a female.