# The mystery mantis...



## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

This is what hatched from an ooth imported from Tanzania. I think it's Polyspilota species, but I don't know which.

















It's roughly 3 inches long, and moves around really fast.


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## ABbuggin (Sep 2, 2009)

Cool. How many (m/f) do you have?

Do you have pics of your other "mystery mantid"? B)


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## massaman (Sep 2, 2009)

looks like a kewl species should be kewl to bring to culture and hope some make it the U.S seems like one species would love to have!


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## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

Taking pictures of them is a pain in the dong - they are very alert, and when disturbed, they run like mad.

I'll take pictures of adult females once they mature, so far this is my first adult. I have 2 females and 4 males, and the funny thing is that I've been keeping them together since they hatched - and they totally tolerate each other. But only these 6, the rest was not so amiable.


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## Christian (Sep 2, 2009)

_Polyspilota aeruginosa_.


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## Katnapper (Sep 2, 2009)

She's a pretty M. mantis.... thanks for letting us see. I like the coloration pattern on her outer wings. I hope you find out what species she is.


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## Katnapper (Sep 2, 2009)

Christian said:


> _Polyspilota aeruginosa_.


Wow... that was quick!


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## revmdn (Sep 2, 2009)

Nice.


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## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

Some more pics...

Polyspilota sub-adult female...











There's virtually no difference in size between sub-adult males and females, both are huge  

This is some Parasphendale species - also from Tanzanian ooths.


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## Pelle (Sep 2, 2009)

Cool pics


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## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

Pelle said:


> Cool pics


Yeah, a lot better than yours, you little geek - go get a life dude.


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## Pelle (Sep 2, 2009)

Haha, silly person :lol:


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## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

Pelle said:


> Haha, silly person :lol:


Yeah? And you are a panty douser.

By the way - I keep Parasphendale together as well. There has never been a case of cannibalism - I thought that this species would be a lot more ferocious.


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## PhilinYuma (Sep 2, 2009)

massaman said:


> looks like a kewl species should be kewl to bring to culture and hope some make it the U.S seems like one species would love to have!


It's already in culture in Europe and bears the English common name of Madagascar mantis, which is pretty good since at least one strain in culture is from Madagascar.

The binomial means "many spotted full of verdigris" in a hodgepodge of Latin and Greek _in one word_, that defies all logic.


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## Katnapper (Sep 2, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


>


This pic is absolutely beautiful, Kruszakus. I really love it! It appears she almost has a human-like figure, very curvy and voluptuous mantis!

I keep Parasphendale agrionina together without much cannibalism all the way through adult. Only recently did the mature female decide the males looked like a bigger and more tasty meal than the blue bottle flies. And all of a sudden... she was alone. :huh: :lol: But they are the only species I seem to have that consistently will take other dying mantids of larger size. They are my "bye-bye beloved disposal system" (for the greater good).


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## Kruszakus (Sep 2, 2009)

She was actually looking at my cat while I was taking this pic - Pixi was really curious about this mantis. It got scared, and leaped like 30 cm - right on my face! Good thing that Pixi did not follow her - a 10 lbs cat jumping on my face ain't a nice thing


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## hibiscusmile (Sep 2, 2009)

Lovely mantis, me want em!!!


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## agent A (Sep 2, 2009)

Kruszakus said:


> Good thing that Pixi did not follow her - a 10 lbs cat jumping on my face ain't a nice thing


got that one right! B)


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 3, 2009)

wow, that mantis looks cool! Looks like he could nip the tip of a finger off, too!


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