# color transformation



## Sparky (Aug 24, 2007)

I posted this earlier and someone said it was a stagmomantis california







Now that it molted 4 times after i caught it. It turned green and someone else said that it was a marbled mantis.






Im sure its a male. I read Rick's sticky and I saw the cup under its abdomen.


----------



## Sparky (Aug 24, 2007)

Does anybody know what it is? Anybody?


----------



## robo mantis (Aug 24, 2007)

It is wild caught in California and it changed colors dramatically. Its a California mantis.


----------



## Sparky (Aug 24, 2007)

I seen a few adult species when i went camping and some were about L5 or L3's. They were either tan or grey.

Anybody knows what might turn this one green?


----------



## Rick (Aug 24, 2007)

Go back and read my thread on telling gender. There is no upturned cup shape on the male until he is adult. Yours is not adult. You need to count segments.


----------



## athicks (Aug 24, 2007)

Wow, he really changed. I like the way he looks a lot actually, very cute! But, I don't know what he is. (Oh and don't pay any attention to my use of "he." I chose it randomly.)


----------



## Sparky (Aug 24, 2007)

> Go back and read my thread on telling gender. There is no upturned cup shape on the male until he is adult. Yours is not adult. You need to count segments.


I counted 7 or 8 segments.

and thanks athicks 8)


----------



## joossa (Aug 24, 2007)

Hey, Sparky, does he/she have a red-orange spot on the underside of its second or third to last abdominal segment?

Kind of like this?


----------



## Precious (Aug 24, 2007)

Looks like my Chinese, but what do I know? :?


----------



## OGIGA (Aug 24, 2007)

Just looking at how skinny the tail is, I'd say it's male.


----------



## Sparky (Aug 25, 2007)

> Hey, Sparky, does he/she have a red-orange spot on the underside of its second or third to last abdominal segment?Kind of like this?


YEA YOU'RE RIGHT JO!!! :shock: I NEVER NOTICED THAT BEFORE! WOAH, CRAZY!


----------



## joossa (Aug 25, 2007)

If the spot is there, then your mantid is an Iris oratoria. Your nymph looks just like the ones I had a couple of weeks ago (most of mine are now subadults).

Anyway, here is another picture; it's an L4 or L5 (not too sure) male I. oratoria nymph:


----------



## Sparky (Aug 27, 2007)

Does anybody have a spare male for this species? I counted the segments wrong. Instead of counting on the bottom, I counted on top. I counted 6 segments on the bottom. I have a female not a male.


----------



## hibiscusmile (Aug 27, 2007)

First, this species is capable of parthenogenic reproduction when males are scarce. Second, additional I. oratoria nymphs may emerge from their oothecae in the second season after the egg case is produced, i.e., when their siblings are already grown and having their own offspring.[8][9]

The sexual cannibalism of mantids often referred to in popular culture occurs in roughly one quarter of all intersexual encounters of I. oratoria.[1][10]

I got this from wikipedia Sparky, you should not need a male, but if you found her outside, go look for a male! You got enough ants.


----------

