# New Recruit: Deroplatys Lobata



## C.way (Jan 27, 2010)

Finally, got the chance to go to the legendary Utopia today, went there at 1.45pm, took me an hour to reach the destination, lucky to meet those extincted great friendly aboriginal people, manage to get 2 pair of sub-adult nymph lobata version of dead leafs mantises, unluckily, I was late for 2 days(my original plan), I was told that they have offloaded some interesting sp including the "dragon mantis" this morning, so I guess Shaiks brother is not the only one to have the toxodera in captive now...

some of the worst photo again :lol:


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## gadunka888 (Jan 27, 2010)

ur luckier than me.... even common stuff like odontomantis also cannot find lol.

Wish you luck with breeding this beautiful species!


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 27, 2010)

This is interesting. Do these aboriginals collect insects and just hope that somebody comes around to buy them? Or do they only collect when they are asked to do so?

What else do they collect?


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## C.way (Jan 27, 2010)

Peter said:


> This is interesting. Do these aboriginals collect insects and just hope that somebody comes around to buy them? Or do they only collect when they are asked to do so?What else do they collect?


I'll say both, what I bought were actually their pet, just that they have extra, they let go some of them to me, if I have the time and it wasn't raining, I've went on to hunt with them

the four I bought were all nymph only, only one male is a molt away from adult


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## Rick (Jan 27, 2010)

Good deal. Good luck with them.


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## sufistic (Jan 27, 2010)

Peter said:


> This is interesting. Do these aboriginals collect insects and just hope that somebody comes around to buy them? Or do they only collect when they are asked to do so?What else do they collect?


There are many villages there with bug collectors. Behind their villages there will usually be a trail made by them for their daily collection. Their main catches would be beetles and butterflies as they have a ready buyer for those. The butterfly farms at Cameron Highlands require a single Orang Asli to catch around a hundred butterflies daily for them.

If they find any mantids, they will either collect them or leave them be. Some of them breed the ones that the butterfly farms want for display purposes. These are usually _H. coronatus_ and any _Deroplatys sp_. If you tell them that you're interested in mantids, they will try and find them for you.

I believe the village C went to is different from the one I'm in contact with.


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## C.way (Jan 30, 2010)

some new recruit again today

t. elegans
















white color d. lobata











d. horificata
















forgotten sp


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

Congrats! The one after _T. elegans_ looks like _D. trigonodera_ (Westwood, 1889). _D. horrifica_ (Westwood, 1889) (not horificata) is synonymous with _D. angustata_ (Westwood, 1841). Although in that photo it looks like _D. lobata_. Can you take clearer photos?


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## yen_saw (Jan 30, 2010)

C.way said:


> some new recruit again today


Hey C. nice collection there! busy recruiting eh  


sufistic said:


> Congrats! The one after _T. elegans_ looks like _D. trigonodera_ (Westwood, 1889). _D. horrifica_ (Westwood, 1889) (not horificata) is synonymous with _D. angustata_ (Westwood, 1841). Although in that photo it looks like _D. lobata_. Can you take clearer photos?


Looks like D. trigonodera Shaik.


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

yen_saw said:


> Looks like D. trigonodera Shaik.


Yeah bro, the one labeled 'white color d. lobata' should be _D. trigonodera_ right?


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## yen_saw (Jan 30, 2010)

sufistic said:


> Yeah bro, the one labeled 'white color d. lobata' should be _D. trigonodera_ right?


Yeah i agree with you, looks like it Shaik. Or you could have your brother take the pic using his cool camera


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## C.way (Jan 30, 2010)

i wish it is d. trigonodera, will try to get some better pic tomorrow, down with flu after a day under the sun


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## yen_saw (Jan 30, 2010)

May your wish come true  

ah bummer!! speedy recovery man, so you could go out there and recruit more soon


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## Katnapper (Jan 30, 2010)

Nice job collecting! Sorry you got sick... and hope you feel better soon!


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## sufistic (Jan 30, 2010)

Yeah get well soon and try and get a male bro!


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## C.way (Jan 31, 2010)

done today, sick gone, going for hunt tomorrow afternoon if there's no rain, my plan is to trimmed down the number, but now...it seems to go the other way round, I'll go for some dead leaf and t. elegans


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## Peter Clausen (Jan 31, 2010)

sufistic said:


> Yeah get well soon and try and get a male bro!


Wild caught females are often already fertilized.

Is it really possible the aboriginals keep them as "pets"? I find it hard to believe they would keep them as pets with no thoughts towards making money off them. I did read that they do sell them and keep them for potential sale, but I'm just curious whether they sometimes say..."no, that one is not for sale...it's my pet"!


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## sufistic (Jan 31, 2010)

Peter said:


> Wild caught females are often already fertilized.Is it really possible the aboriginals keep them as "pets"? I find it hard to believe they would keep them as pets with no thoughts towards making money off them. I did read that they do sell them and keep them for potential sale, but I'm just curious whether they sometimes say..."no, that one is not for sale...it's my pet"!


True, but it helps to acquire a male just in case. I've had hatchings from oothecae laid by wild caught females unpaired in captivity, and I've had wild caught females laying unfertilized oothecae as well.


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## C.way (Jan 31, 2010)

Peter said:


> Wild caught females are often already fertilized.Is it really possible the aboriginals keep them as "pets"? I find it hard to believe they would keep them as pets with no thoughts towards making money off them. I did read that they do sell them and keep them for potential sale, but I'm just curious whether they sometimes say..."no, that one is not for sale...it's my pet"!


true, most wild caught female are mated

well, for those aboriginals to keep them, it's easier than us, wild caught food resources are abundant out there to them, to be exact...they keep them for their interest on that creature, not much about monetary or economic term, if only you understand their life style...they lead a rather simple life out there, getting enough for use rather than holding a greedy mentality, it's not about money here and there, they are just simply...leading a very noble life, helping each other out, most importantly, they are happy and maintain a very good relation with one another

I was shock to know that they actually know about insect world better than a professional scientist in this field, they learn through life experience, by working as an underpaid worker in butterfly farm, after telling me the difference between the few dead leafs sp up hill, I was shock that the person in front of me, teaching me all these had not finished his primary school, knowing all the scientific name, carry on personal research by taking his bike down the hill for about 1 hour to reach the nearest internet cafe...truly amazing people


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## Christian (Jan 31, 2010)

The whitish one is _D. trigonodera_; a good find, those are rare in W-Malaysia; more of a Bornean species. It is in stock over here for 4 years now.


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## C.way (Feb 1, 2010)

Christian said:


> The whitish one is _D. trigonodera_; a good find, those are rare in W-Malaysia; more of a Bornean species. It is in stock over here for 4 years now.


I see, thanks for pointing out, is it the color that makes the difference between d. trigonodera or is there any other factors that makes the difference? thanks


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## Christian (Feb 1, 2010)

Oh no. Although _D. trigonodera_ in captivity tend to have the color of your specimen, I have also seen darker and more reddish wild-caught ones. The differences are rather obvious: shape of pronotum, tegmina and hindwings are different from those in _lobata_.


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