# Shield mantis (Rhombodera sp)



## yen_saw

Here are few more pics from this to-be-determined Rhombodera sp., a subadult female.


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## robo mantis

Thats a beast!


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## Borya

Can you take a photo of them placed by the ruler?


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## RodG

Great stuff Yen 8) Keep it coming!!!


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## Asa

I like the 'honeyed' food. :lol:


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## robo mantis

Yeah it looks like i'm going to need to buy some of the honey stuff also


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## Asa

I have it enmasse'


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## spawn

What are you talking about?


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## robo mantis

The stuff yen coats his bugs in before he feeds them to the mantids.


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## yen_saw

> Can you take a photo of them placed by the ruler?


I will try to do it, right now she is 60 mm.

THe yellowy stuff is bee pollen mixed with wild honey.


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## yen_saw

Guess i should have added the other pics in general mantids section here.

Two of the male decided to molt into adult yesterday, now i have 2 adult pairs  


























I think he is wondering how did he manage to come out from that shed :lol:


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## yen_saw

> Can you take a photo of them placed by the ruler?


Here is one of the larger subadult female, she has larger shield than most other sub. female, a good 6.5 cm, my guess is she will be at least 8 cm when adult, but i am more interested with the shield size.


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## RodG

Fantastic photos, Yen!!! Best of luck with the two adult pairs  

Another species I must get from you 8)


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## Asa

THAT IS SO COOL!!

My shields are starting to devolop


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## yen_saw

Thanks Rod, hopefully they can be bred easily, and the next pic here will be their mating pic


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## yen_saw

More pics for the adult females


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## Asa

You can see the feeder dust on its food


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## yen_saw

The yellowish dust was actually some curry powder i added on to spice up her diet........ nah only kidding :lol: 

Well good spot, it is the pollen/honey mix, i don't know if that actually help but this bunch have been healthy feeding with the mixture, and the first ootheca laid is the largest of any other oothecae i have seen from the wild caught female.


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## yen_saw

Another female was laying ootheca this morning, and the surviving flies decided to take advantage of the "liquid" from the foam.


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## Ben.M

can the flies effect the ooth in any way???


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## yen_saw

I hope not :shock:

This is the finishing touch

I think the long thread at the end of ootheca is the "trademark" for this species


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## Sparky

oozy :lol:


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## Christian

The ooths resemble the ones I know from _Rh. valida_. This does not mean that this *is *actually _Rh. valida_!

Regards,

Christian


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## joossa

Beautiful mantids, Yen. Did you take any pictures of them when they were mating?


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## Asa

EWWW!!!


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## robo mantis

how you get the ooth off the cage?


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## OGIGA

> EWWW!!!


Never seen a mantis mate?


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## Ben.M

> EWWW!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Never seen a mantis mate?
Click to expand...

In other words hav u ever seen mantis porn :lol:


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## Asa

> EWWW!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Never seen a mantis mate?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> In other words hav u ever seen mantis no :lol:
Click to expand...

Very very very often. It freaks me out every time...


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## yen_saw

> The ooths resemble the ones I know from _Rh. valida_. This does not mean that this *is *actually _Rh. valida_!Regards,
> 
> Christian


I suffered great lost of both of my adult male few days ago. One was gobbled up by a female and another lost both the head and prothorax to another female. Do you think this "1/3 body" still be good for identification Christian? It is still connected to the female this morning, has been there for more than 2 days. :shock:













> how you get the ooth off the cage?


Cut it out with a razor. Here it is now set on the container.








> Beautiful mantids, Yen. Did you take any pictures of them when they were mating?


The mating pics were posted on this link

http://www.mantidforum.com/forum/viewtopic...sc&amp;start=75

One of the female decided to lay an ooth inside the 32 oz container before i have the time to move her to a larger cage. i was surprise that she could maneuver herself within the limited space and lay such a huge ooth.


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## Asa

That ooth is massive...


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## Christian

Yeah, that's enough remains. But please remove him immediately after copulation ending, otherwise the female will finish her work. I need at least intact wings and abdomina for ID.

Thanks, and best wishes,

Christian


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## yen_saw

Great! i will keep the "left-over" if it is still there, i don't want to pull them apart while they are still connected. When i have a complete male specimen i will resend it for further identification. Hopefully at least one of the two surviving adult male will still be alive when they are done with mating with the other three unmated females.


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## yen_saw

The ootheca size is getting larger  this one (the first) from another female produced yesterday is yet the largest for me, she is slightly over 8 cm (just to get an idea of the ooth size).


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## Asa

Looks like you got a good blood line there!


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## yen_saw

The oothecae from their wild collected mother were small at only one inch (see pic below) compare to the one i have now which is at least twice the size. So maybe size of the subsequent ooth produces by the same female reduces over time :?:


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## Birdfly

Or nutrition


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## yen_saw

Yes i think definately food has to do with it, this morning one of my female was laying her second ooth i hope it is going to be of equivalent size of the first ooth.


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## Poema86

oh mann thats huge!

beautiful species and massive othecae  some things in this world realy are great :wink:


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## yen_saw

finally the first ooth hatched, in strange pattern, about a dozen hatched the first day, and today it exploded into hundreds :shock: my guess is about 300 nymphs, now i wonder how many can survive.

This is when i first found it started to hatch







This one is taken about one hour later, some are still hatching. ekkkk.... my wife will freak out looking at this


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## MikhailsDinos

Wonderful, Yen! That is one of the nicest feelings, To see your work pay off.


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## yen_saw

Thanks Mikhails, now i change my mind and need your fruit flies ASAP!! i will pm you.


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## Andrew

Yen...be sure to save some nymphs for me.


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## OGIGA

Wow, they look like they really want to get out of there.


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## yen_saw

Will have enough for you Andrew, unless all 300 of them drop dead in one night!!

p/s: funny orange and banana story there

Yes Ogiga, they are all still in the 32 oz container, seems to stress tham out a bit, i will put them in a foot cube net cage later today.

Update on the species identity (if anyone care), a headless male sample was sent to Christian for identification few weeks ago, and it appear to resemble _Rh. Basilis_ at first but after further comparison with other available _Rhombodera sp. _ stocks, this species could be a unique species due to different genitalia part. So another adult pair is on its way to Christian for further species identification. It'll not be easy as there are so many species in this genus. Will keep update.


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## Andrew

> Will have enough for you Andrew, unless all 300 of them drop dead in one night!!p/s: funny orange and banana story there


Heheh, thanks.


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## Ian

Wow Yen...good stuff! Those ootheca really are huge, you must be gutloading the food well as well as gutloading the mantis.

Would certainly be interested in some when they are a little larger


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## yen_saw

Ha yea Ian! if her ab is elastic i'll sure to stuff her up like a balloon!

Just pm me when you are ready buddy!


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## yen_saw

One more ooth hatched today, this one hatched out exactly after 30 days incubation.


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## Andrew

Nice! The nymphs you sent me are all well and started molting into L3 already.

I can't imagine what it must be like having thousands of the things to take care of. I'd either pack a bunch up and dump them on some other person or use it as an excuse to get a chameleon or something.


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## OGIGA

Oh my goodness Yen, it looks like a jungle in there! Have you moved them to a bigger container yet?


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## yen_saw

Andrew said:


> Nice! The nymphs you sent me are all well and started molting into L3 already. I can't imagine what it must be like having thousands of the things to take care of. I'd either pack a bunch up and dump them on some other person or use it as an excuse to get a chameleon or something.


Great! thanks for taking great care of them Andrew. you will start to see the sign of "shield" around 5th instar. So just two more moults  

Yeah i am getting close to that figure. which is why i am getting rid of the extra ootheca. i lost one of the female recently for unknown reason (just drop dead after her 4th ooth) but the other 6 still laying ooth every 3 week. my next ooth is expected to hatch this weekend.





I am hoping to hear other success hatching as i am dropping this species, the stock in Germany has unfortunately failed to breed (unfertilized ooth after mating)  but there are adult breeding stock in UK too so maybe something positive from there. Hey if i can do it, everyone else can.



OGIGA said:


> Oh my goodness Yen, it looks like a jungle in there! Have you moved them to a bigger container yet?


yes Calvin, all the hatchling from 4 recently hatched ooth are happily in 3 separate foot cube net cages now. Not as stressful as when all cramped up in the 32 oz plastic container.


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