# Schizocephala bicornis



## yen_saw (Dec 9, 2008)

Some members here have requested for some update on this species so here it is. I received only a pair from German back in September which appear to have 3 molts to go. THe subadult female recently molted into adult after close to 3 months (took as long for her last 3 molts) and is about 12 cm. Male is close to molt soon with bulging budwing so i didn't bring him out of the net cage, he is considerably smaller than female.

Subadult male












Adult female





















FInger cross I hope to get a healthy adult pair and breed for another generation.


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## shorty (Dec 9, 2008)

Beautiful species. Please let me know if you successfully mate these two and decide to sell any offspring. I would be very interested in purchasing a few nymphs.


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## Pelle (Dec 10, 2008)

Nice photo's  

Good luck breeding these!


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## hibiscusmile (Dec 10, 2008)

Must get bigger container!


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## Kruszakus (Dec 10, 2008)

Jesus! This is a huge mantis!


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## yen_saw (Dec 10, 2008)

shorty said:


> Beautiful species. Please let me know if you successfully mate these two and decide to sell any offspring. I would be very interested in purchasing a few nymphs.


Thanks. I am looking forward to get them to breed too.



Pelle said:


> Nice photo's  Good luck breeding these!


Thanks Pim.



hibiscusmile said:


> Must get bigger container!


I am keeping them in each individual foot cube net cage. I was worried the female's head might reach the bottom of the cage during molting but i completely missed the molting and she appear to be alright. phew....



Kruszakus said:


> Jesus! This is a huge mantis!


Yeah it is pretty long, slightly longer than _Brunneria borealis _. The small wings on adult female appear to be simiilar to that of _Brunneria borealis_. I was told this species can grow to 16 cm but again this is what seller would say.


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## Kruszakus (Dec 10, 2008)

Just as with the 20 cm piece


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## Frack (Dec 10, 2008)

Cool mantis! Good luck with breeding them!


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## Giosan (Dec 10, 2008)

I'm so in love with them!!!

Do they need the same warmth as B. borealis ?


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## Morpheus uk (Dec 11, 2008)

They are from India i believe so im guessing they would need additional heat?

Great lookig species btw :lol:


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## harryallard (Dec 11, 2008)

topped my list as the worlds weirdest mantis :lol:


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## Katnapper (Dec 11, 2008)

Large as they are, they still look incredibly cute. :wub: And everytime I see a pic of one since you posted that other series of pics a while back, the image of them doing "tai chi" enters my mind and I crack up! h34r: :lol: Thanks for the update, Yen, and best of luck getting them to breed!


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## yen_saw (Dec 31, 2008)

Thanks all. The subadult male molted into adult alright couple of weeks ago. FEmale has been adult for more than 3 weeks, so i let them together in the same cage yesterday with extra heat and they mated. since this is my only pair i don't wanna disturb them so i took this pic from far.






Now i have a new year resolution


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 1, 2009)

Like a cross between my two favorite bugs...phasmids and mantids. What's not to like?

Good luck, Yen!

Any idea how many nymphs come out of the ootheca, on average? Sometimes this factor is the "make it or break it" one for me.


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## MANTIS DUDE (Jan 1, 2009)

It is absolutly [SIZE=18pt]incredible[/SIZE] how well camoflaged mantids can get. In a medow, this bug would be impossible to find by any human in the entire world.(pretty much unless you had tools) I have never seen Schizocephala bicornis before. they are really long, and they have such tiny little heads! :lol: were are they origonaly desended?


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## Rick (Jan 2, 2009)

MANTIS DUDE said:


> It is absolutly [SIZE=18pt]incredible[/SIZE] how well camoflaged mantids can get. In a medow, this bug would be impossible to find by any human in the entire world.(pretty much unless you had tools) I have never seen Schizocephala bicornis before. they are really long, and they have such tiny little heads! :lol: were are they origonaly desended?


Kinda like brunners mantis. I have a hard time finding them when other mantids are easy to find. I have to trample the weeds down and look for them moving.


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## Kruszakus (Jan 2, 2009)

More pics!


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## yen_saw (Jan 4, 2009)

Peter said:


> Like a cross between my two favorite bugs...phasmids and mantids. What's not to like?Good luck, Yen!
> 
> Any idea how many nymphs come out of the ootheca, on average? Sometimes this factor is the "make it or break it" one for me.


Thanks Peter. To be honest, i have no idea at even how the ootheca of this species looks like until the female deposited an ootheca this morning.






Based on the shape and size (about 1 inch), maybe about 50-70 eggs? I look up the internet and there is nothing about this species. I have no idea on incubation period either. THe seller provide no information to me either so i am pretty much in the dark right now. The only useful info is that it is from Goa India (the weather pattern helps) i just hope the ooth will hatch fine. I will share the news if that happen.



MANTIS DUDE said:


> were are they origonaly desended?


I assumed you want to know where are they from? It is a species from Goa, India.



Rick said:


> Kinda like brunners mantis. I have a hard time finding them when other mantids are easy to find. I have to trample the weeds down and look for them moving.


Tha's right i assume you can find this species the same way in the wild, look for anything that move "unnaturally".



Kruszakus said:


> More pics!


ok.. give me some times.


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## spawn (Jan 7, 2009)

I had some bad luck with this species when I ordered a pair from Lars. One molted during shipping and was bent in half and died soon after, and I was ill-prepared with anything to feed their small hands.

What are you feeding the adults, Yen?


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## yen_saw (Jan 9, 2009)

spawn said:


> I had some bad luck with this species when I ordered a pair from Lars. One molted during shipping and was bent in half and died soon after, and I was ill-prepared with anything to feed their small hands.What are you feeding the adults, Yen?


Oh you got some from Lars too? or was it Solygia sulcatifrons that you got?

Adults of this species feed on blue bottle, house fly, moth, turkish roach, and lobster roach so far. their small front legs really don't deter them from catching big prey. Here are couple more pics as promised.

Wings of adult male







Adult female feeding on roach (Female has thicker antenna than male for this species)


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## Katnapper (Jan 9, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Oh you got some from Lars too? or was it Solygia sulcatifrons that you got?Adults of this species feed on blue bottle, house fly, moth, turkish roach, and lobster roach so far. their small front legs really don't deter them from catching big prey. Here are couple more pics as promised.
> 
> Wings of adult male
> 
> ...


Very cool. I love her face and antennae.


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## yen_saw (Jan 11, 2009)

Thanks Becky, yeah the odd thing is her antenna is significantly thicker than the male's. Here is another pic of her taking another bite out of the B. lateralis.






A little update for anyone interested with this species. The pair continue to mate for at least 4 more times. Male appear to be very robust and mate at will, while female is alert of his presence and do strike at him once a while he manage to find a way. I need to remove the male again so she can deposit another ooth without more "hassle" from the male. The female laid her first ooth while the male was away from her cage. I have hard time trying to remove the ooth from the net. Fearing of damaging it i let the ooth stays in the net cage, will probably remove the female out to another cage after her second ooth (hopefully).


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## Katnapper (Jan 11, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Thanks Becky, yeah the odd thing is her antenna is significantly thicker than the male's. Here is another pic of her taking another bite out of the B. lateralis.A little update for anyone interested with this species. The pair continue to mate for at least 4 more times. Male appear to be very robust and mate at will, while female is alert of his presence and do strike at him once a while he manage to find a way. I need to remove the male again so she can deposit another ooth without more "hassle" from the male. The female laid her first ooth while the male was away from her cage. I have hard time trying to remove the ooth from the net. Fearing of damaging it i let the ooth stays in the net cage, will probably remove the female out to another cage after her second ooth (hopefully).


Yes, the combination of the long pointed eyes taking up most of space on the face and the thick antennae make for a distinctive and very appealing look.  

I just ordered some more 12x12 net cages that I plan on using a lot for large species adults and incubating ooths of larger brood size species. I didn't realize it is troublesome to remove ooths from the net cage. Hmmm... I may just transfer female to a different net cage after each fertile laying, and incubate each ooth in that cage it was layed from there. (Don't mind me... I'm working out future plans and talking to myself "out loud," lol.  )


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## yen_saw (Jan 13, 2009)

Yeah the ooth stuck on the net like superglue. I am sure you can pull it out but could either damage the net or the ooth. i am not sure of the incubation period just in case the ooth hatch while she is still in there so removing her seems easier for now. I am hoping it won't take as long as B. borealis ooth need to hatch.


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## Kruszakus (Jan 13, 2009)

Can you upload some shots of the whole body?

Not yours


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## yen_saw (Jan 13, 2009)

See photos from previous page.


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## Kruszakus (Jan 13, 2009)

I was them, but I'd like to see more - this species fascinates me


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## spawn (Jan 14, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Oh you got some from Lars too? or was it Solygia sulcatifrons that you got?Adults of this species feed on blue bottle, house fly, moth, turkish roach, and lobster roach so far. their small front legs really don't deter them from catching big prey. Here are couple more pics as promised.


Yes I did. I did get Solygia sulcatifrons as well...I don't know how you knew that, haha. That's very, very weird to see the picture of her holding the roach. Lars told me they wouldn't feed on anything bigger than their claws. That's actually very surprising to me you got her to grab a roach.


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## Dinora (Jan 15, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Some members here have requested for some update on this species so here it is. I received only a pair from German back in September which appear to have 3 molts to go. THe subadult female recently molted into adult after close to 3 months (took as long for her last 3 molts) and is about 12 cm. Male is close to molt soon with bulging budwing so i didn't bring him out of the net cage, he is considerably smaller than female.Adult female
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow! She is so beautiful and elegant! What size housing would you recommend for these guys? I'm wondering if I have the room, I'm trying to decide on my next.


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## yen_saw (Feb 27, 2009)

Ah long forgotten thread but found it!!!  



Dinora said:


> Wow! She is so beautiful and elegant! What size housing would you recommend for these guys? I'm wondering if I have the room, I'm trying to decide on my next.


THey do alright with foot cube net cage but larger be better... sorry for being ignorant i missed out this thread completely.

The adult female appear to be sick and not moving well. She deposited her thrid ooth yesterday which appear to be "incomplete" with eggs exposed.






So i decided to end her misery .... in freezer






Her first ootheca hatched today with only a dozen nymphs... I wonder if more will hatch. But this may means she might not be healthy before. Lesson learn: Get more than one pair if you plan to breed a species  

My first generation for this species


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## robelgado (Feb 27, 2009)

Very cool.

I love this mantis.

How long was it before the ooth hatched?


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## yen_saw (Feb 28, 2009)

Took a long time for me, about 50 days :blink: Here is the pic taken whle they starting to hatch... bad pic sorry  






Edit: another 20 nymphs hatched out today so i can let some go at L2 if anyone is interested.


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## robelgado (Feb 28, 2009)

yen_saw said:


> Took a long time for me, about 50 days :blink: Here is the pic taken whle they starting to hatch... bad pic sorry
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love how they come out of those ootheca. in such a tiny little space.


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## yen_saw (Feb 28, 2009)

Actually i was expecting more to hatch. Hopefully tomorrow but looks like it is done for now.


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## hibiscusmile (Feb 28, 2009)

I missed this posting Yen, very nice alien b abies u got!


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## yen_saw (Mar 2, 2009)

Thanks Becky. Now i just hope i can get them to feed. I am surprise they are so small at this stage i can only hope they are alright with D. melanogaster. Right now it is hard to believe these little nymphs will grow up to the size of their mother :blink: I assume they get a good size increase after each molt. Can't wait to find out.


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## Pelle (Mar 2, 2009)

Congrats! They look funny at their first instar :lol:


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## kamakiri (Mar 2, 2009)

Very cool Yen! - Congrats on the hatchlings  Please post updates!


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## PhilinYuma (Mar 2, 2009)

Yes, very cool indeed! That's raffia in the cube, isn't it? I'll have to check out Michaels.

I just checked online, and it's mostly colored artsy craftsy stuff in small quantities. There do you get yours?


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## Frack (Mar 2, 2009)

Hobby lobby has raffia grass for sure, I remember Yen saying hes seen it in walmart but I coulnt ever find it, but there all a little different so maybe you could get it there.


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## yen_saw (Mar 4, 2009)

Yes Phil it is raffia grass. Michaels and Hobby Lobby definitely have them. Some Walmarts also carry this but not all. I like to use raffia as it increase the surface area for the hatchling to hang on to instead of all clump together on the lid. I also use them for shipping nymphs.


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## MikhailsDinos (Mar 5, 2009)

Congratulations Yen!


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## yen_saw (Mar 6, 2009)

Thanks Mikhails...

Has been a while  

PM you....


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## Kaddock (Mar 7, 2009)

i can't stop coming back to look at them! stunning... i need...


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## Colorcham427 (Mar 22, 2011)

Anybody have these in culture?? In the US? I wanna start a colony of my own!


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