# The Biggest Mantid available?



## Way.Of.The.Mantis (Jun 14, 2007)

What is the biggest possible mantid available? (In terms of length)

The Giant Malaysian Shield? :?


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## Asa (Jun 14, 2007)

I think it's called the Archimantis? Biggest one available is chinese and the giants.


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## yen_saw (Jun 14, 2007)

I have heard of the following large mantis

Macromantis sp

http://ttwebbase.dyndns.org/mantid/view/44.html

and

Ischnomantis gigas (15-17 cm)


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## robo mantis (Jun 14, 2007)

I want one


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## Asa (Jun 14, 2007)

Probably would be difficult to raise. Would be cool to watch them eat! Expensive too.


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## Mettler (Jun 14, 2007)

Probably depends what style of mantid you want too... I've seen discussion &amp; pictures of a few really long mantises that are skinny and long (160mm), but not very bulky... then out of the bulky tank style mantids, the biggest only seem to go to 120mm.

The exotic pets store seems to state that the Giant Shield Mantis grows up to 120mm, yet I've read conflicting information on here. I also read somewhere that Sphodromantis Lineola grows to 130mm, but according to the exotic pets store, they only grow to like 90mm... so who knows... I believe whether they reach maximum growth potential may have a lot to do with how much you feed them and what temperature they're kept at.

When I get around to importing a mantid, I think I'll try my luck with the tried &amp; true H. Grandis, unless I find some hard facts about what has been proven to grow bigger.


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## Rob Byatt (Jun 15, 2007)

> What is the biggest possible mantid available? (In terms of length)The Giant Malaysian Shield? :?


At the moment in the UK, the overall largest mantis it is _Plistopsilota guineensis_ - it was bred for the first time here last year. Adult females can reach 120mm from head to tip of abdomen.

_Rhombodera basalis_ - the species that was bred here and is referred to by most websites - is genearlly around 90 mm, it DOES not reach 110mm :wink:

There are other _Rhombodera_ spp. that are far larger than these two though


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## Borya (Jun 17, 2007)

And how big _Idolomantis diabolica_ is?


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## Birdfly (Jun 17, 2007)

_I diabolica _grows to about 4-4.5 inches


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## jmac27 (Jun 18, 2007)

While doing some research on mantids the other day I found an interesting fact. The world's largest praying mantis was recorded at 45cm (18") long, in Southern China, in 1929. Can you imagine seeing an eighteen inch praying mantis in front of you? Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantid


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## yen_saw (Jun 18, 2007)

I have heard of 18" phasmid but never a mantis. I wonder if that's true, a mantis that size can take down a puppy!!


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## Asa (Jun 18, 2007)

Yeah, it is true. I saw a picture of it somewhere.


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## OGIGA (Jun 18, 2007)

> While doing some research on mantids the other day I found an interesting fact. The world's largest praying mantis was recorded at 45cm (18") long, in Southern China, in 1929. Can you imagine seeing an eighteen inch praying mantis in front of you? Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantid


I like mantises, but I think I'll be seriously afraid of an 18 inch one taking a bite out of me.


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## Asa (Jun 18, 2007)

Would probably hurt a teensy bit.


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## Christian (Jun 19, 2007)

This is definitely not true! I have to clean up the crappy stuff on Wikipedia again...

The largest species (in terms of length) is _Ischnomantis gigas_ with about 17 and 14 cm for females and males, respectively. With some luck, it may be available soon.

Also very large are _Toxodera beieri_ and _T. maxima_ with about 15,5 cm and 13,5 cm, respectively. _Paratoxodera cornicollis_ is not as large, just about 12-13 cm. Not available.

_Idolomantis diabolica_, _Plistospilota guineensis_, _Heterochaeta orientalis_, _Macromantis_ spp. and some _Rhombodera_ spp. reach 11-13 cm. The bulkiest I've ever seen was a _Rh. fratricida_ female. Just about 11 or 12 cm, but powerful and heavy. A really scary one. Not available.

I wonder why some people always ask after large mantids. Some smaller ones are by far more interesting.

Regards,

Christian


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## Asa (Jun 19, 2007)

> This is definitely not true! I have to clean up the crappy stuff on Wikipedia again...The largest species (in terms of length) is _Ischnomantis gigas_ with about 17 and 14 cm for females and males, respectively. With some luck, it may be available soon.
> 
> Also very large are _Toxodera beieri_ and _T. maxima_ with about 15,5 cm and 13,5 cm, respectively. _Paratoxodera cornicollis_ is not as large, just about 12-13 cm. Not available.
> 
> ...


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## Rob Byatt (Jun 19, 2007)

Maybe it did say that, but that is just Wikipedia, not a scientific documentation of size.

It is very doubtful that an 18" mantis exists. Not sure I'd want to keep it anyway :shock:


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## Asa (Jun 19, 2007)

They actually hold conventions for breeding mantids to absurd sizes. It's disgusting.


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## Christian (Jun 19, 2007)

It's not possible to increase the size of any animal beyond the natural boundaries set by evolution. You can achieve a size near to the upper range, but not far beyond it. Believing you can breed a giant mantis by feeding it exhaustively just leads to overfed mantids...

Greets,

Christian


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## OGIGA (Jun 19, 2007)

Awesome. You're contributing to the Wikipedia community :wink:

Anyway, I like large species just because they're large. That's what makes them special to me.


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## Mettler (Jun 19, 2007)

> I wonder why some people always ask after large mantids. Some smaller ones are by far more interesting.


It's just the appeal of having a massive powerful bug that can kick lots of ! I'm after the biggest mantid I can get, gonna try and get a H. Membranacea or a P. Guineesis.


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## Asa (Jun 19, 2007)

> It's not possible to increase the size of any animal beyond the natural boundaries set by evolution. You can achieve a size near to the upper range, but not far beyond it. Believing you can breed a giant mantis by feeding it exhaustively just leads to overfed mantids...Greets,
> 
> Christian


Oh, no no no. I didn't mean to continue to feed it when it was full. You can feed them a kind of 'vitamin' to increase their size. But you are correct. Eventually they cannot get any bigger. I prefer to think of it as other than evolution, but we had this talk in another irrevalant post.


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## francisco (Jun 19, 2007)

Hello All,

We all like large mantid because of size,but most of us want a large mantis thinking they will be as bulk as an african or a MAlaysian giant.

One of the longest I'd kept were Heterochaeta strachani and Heterochaeta orinetalis.

I hade one generation of H strachani and that was it.

Now I agree with Christian, there are so many smaller mantids that are far more interesting than the larger ones.

Otomantis sp

Ceratomantis.

How about Metallyticus sp

For us Americans, specially those located in Florida, should try to collect some

Gonatista grisea and the rare Mantoida maya, the second one being the most facinating mantis (to me ) that we have in the states. No one has rearing info on this mantis.

I am sure M maya ooth will give you trading power or access to a similar exotic mantis sp in Europe and Asia.

Regards to all.

FT


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## jmac27 (Jun 20, 2007)

The 18'' mantid was really discovered. I didn't mean that there is a species that grows to this length. It was just one individual organism that grew to an incredible size. There could be several factors that led to this. It was most likely a genetic freak of nature. Things like this happen. It's kind of like giantism.


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## OGIGA (Jun 20, 2007)

I'm really tempted to try feeding some mantises steroids to see if they would grow bigger. Sure, I might kill them during the process, but I still want to try. Maybe I will when I get a few good colonies going.


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## Christian (Jun 20, 2007)

There was never any proof of a 30 cm mantis. It was maybe just confounded with a phasmid. Or falsely translated. There is no 30 cm mantis in China, not one specimen or a whole species.

Regards,

Christian


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## francisco (Jun 20, 2007)

Hello ALl,

I agree with Christian, if it is a recorded specimen or a record holder, there should at least be a specie name acompanay by some pictures, even if they are black and white.

Another thing there should be info on where the specimen is kept at.

Not saying it can't be possible, but pretty sure 99.9% imposible.

FT


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## Asa (Jun 20, 2007)

I think it is quite possible it is confused with a phasmid also. But I remember seeing enormous praying mantids in life and picture that were at least 10-12 inches.


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