# Congo Green



## Kashmir79 (Aug 16, 2009)

hey everyone. a few pics of my Congo green mantis. i have a feeling its a male...what do you think ?


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## Morpheus uk (Aug 16, 2009)

Female  

I have no idea why these are so popular all of a sudden, just seem like a plain green mantis, might have to get a couple to see what all the hypes about lol


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## superfreak (Aug 16, 2009)

i would have said male. think i can count seven segments on the butt...


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## jameslongo (Aug 16, 2009)

maybe even eight if you look hard enough h34r:


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## Morpheus uk (Aug 16, 2009)

Its not all about counting segments, but looking at the last one  

On females its just one big one shaped like a funnel on most species, while males are often many tiny segments grouped together instead of one big one.


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## Cosmic (Aug 16, 2009)

Female  ,

Like morph says it's the last segment that counts, it's how I do most of my sexing, besides I only count 6 segments


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## superfreak (Aug 17, 2009)

awl right  ive always been taught &gt;6 on the underside = male.

but my eyesight is not that good


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## PhilinYuma (Aug 17, 2009)

Morpheus uk said:


> Its not all about counting segments, but looking at the last one  On females its just one big one shaped like a funnel on most species, while males are often many tiny segments grouped together instead of one big one.


Kind of you to take the time to educate Superfreak on how to sex mantids!  :lol: Do you also consider prolongation of the vertex and the tubercles of the pronotum, when making your Dx?

I see seven segments, too.


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## planetq (Aug 17, 2009)

Actually, yeah, I agree with Phil and superfreak... I can very VAGUELY see seven segments too. And of course it is not about just counting segments.

I think the picture taken is not the best angle for sexing. (As usually pictures asking to sex their nymphs NEVER are haha  )

The best way would be to get the underside of the abdomen. Then there wouldn't be two different interpretations.

Just one picture clearly showing the last segment of the under side of the abdomen.

But just from what I see, I think I get male.

But at the same time, I never owned this species so I wouldn't really know.

P.S: here is a good example of an image that is clearly sex-able : http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/348919...ac558e87a_o.jpg

(in this photo, the Congo green is FEMALE)

(Taken from Scott Thompson's wonderful Flickr page. Awesome photos!!)

Minkyu


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## agent A (Sep 6, 2009)

male, look at the first pic, you can see between the cerci the 2 tiny little hair things that are only present on the male's genital cup.


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## massaman (Sep 6, 2009)

well does look male to me and would also love to try my hand at this species if anyone has them cheap of course in the U.S


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## Ntsees (Sep 6, 2009)

agent A said:


> male, look at the first pic, you can see between the cerci the 2 tiny little hair things that are only present on the male's genital cup.


+1

Yeap. In my experience, I agree with Agent A. I may not be familiar with the species, but those "2 tiny little hair things" are just the evidence that I use to distinguish males from females. The second method would of course be counting segments.


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