O. sycllarus female brooding larvae

[Gonodactylus]

One of our female O. scyllarus that we keep in a cut-away burrow successfully hatched her brood and has been tending her larvae that remain in the burrow with her. After several days, they become photopositive, leave the burrow and enter the plankton. I thought you might like to see a photo of a female brooding larvae rather than the typical egg mass picture.

Roy

 

[mattyice]

very nice, i hope to see that one day if i could get my hands on a male

 

[Gonodactylus]

O. s store sperm for months (as long as they haven't molted) and usually arrive mated.

Roy

 

[justinl]

wow that is an amazing pic. Have you had success rearing O. s. larvae before? Do you each larvae in separate tanks because they're cannibalistic? How many do you attempt to raise at a time?

 

[Gonodactylus]

O. scyllarus larvae are in the plankton and grow too large to rear - at least not by me. You would have to hold them for months.

Roy

 

[Pea-brain]

From the sound of it you have raised other mantis species. This question popped into my head last night, and then this thread! perfect timing. My question is whether or not there is a difference between wild caught and tank raised mantises in your experience? It seems to me they'd be less shy, more interacive, hardier, etc. So have you ever raised any species in your lab and were they different? Amazing pic BTW.

 

[Gonodactylus]

The only species I have raised is G. chiragra. Others have reared N. oerstedii and N. wennerae. No one that I know has reared stomatopods from egg to adult. Three or four years is just too long.

Roy

 

[seahorsedreams]

That is an excellent photo. You wouldn't have a pic showing the cut-away burrow from future back would you. How did you go about making it?

 

[Gonodactylus]

We used these all the time in filming and observing. This particular one was made from three strips of black acrylic each about 3 by 12 inches They were bonded into a c-shaped tube (3 sides) The tube is then placed against the wall of the aquarium blank side against the glass. It is held in place by piling rocks on top all the way to both ends. A piece of black plastic is taped to the glass on the outside of the burrow. When we want to observe or photograph, we simply remove the black plastic. If the lighting is low - and there isn't anywhere else to live, the O.s stay in even when we remove the cover.

For more realistic burrows, we shave one side of a 3 or 4 inch in diameter piece of curved pvc, coat the inside with silicone sealant, pack it with sand and let it cure for a few days. We then rinse out the sand and have a natural looking inside of a burrow. This is then placed against the glass and the opening covered with black plastic.

Roy

 

[seahorsedreams]

Thanks! I have to try that... !