# Cross Breeding Mantises



## iLUVdraguhns (Jan 27, 2014)

Is it even possible? I've never seen anyone do it.


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## Extrememantid (Jan 28, 2014)

People have tried.. I know there have been a few but only in the same genus eg. (Rhombodera stalii and rhombodera valida) that kind of thing.. I don't think anyone has actually tried to cross breed those species btw.. That was just an example


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## Rick (Jan 28, 2014)

Do a search here. This has been discussed in detail already.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

everyone says it's impossible. But I think there must be a way to do it! I came up with an idea of how to maybe crossbreed. But first I must get the adults I need. I have ooths of different species and when they are adults, I will try. I'm not going to tell you how to do it though. Sorry


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## Extrememantid (Jan 28, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> everyone says it's impossible. But I think there must be a way to do it! I came up with an idea of how to maybe crossbreed. But first I must get the adults I need. I have ooths of different species and when they are adults, I will try. I'm not going to tell you how to do it though. Sorry


You might as well spill it because if you fail, someone else might not. That's kind of ignorant. Or you don't even know how to do it lol


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

If it doesn't work for me, then I will give it to someone else. I just don't want someone to do it before me! The first ones I will try to crossbreed is european and chinese. Then I will do more exotic ones.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

I just don't have adults yet


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## Paradoxica (Jan 28, 2014)

People have reported breeding Hybrids from two species within the same Genus (I think I recall two different creobroter species being bred) but the offspring are never fertile. So, while creating a Hybrid within a Genus is possible (sometimes) it seems really unlikely that two different Genera that are only related by Family could be compatible.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

you are probably right paradoxica.But I'm not just going to do it how people usually breed mantids. I came up with something different that MIGHT work.


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## mantiseater (Jan 28, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> If it doesn't work for me, then I will give it to someone else. I just don't want someone to do it before me! The first ones I will try to crossbreed is european and chinese. Then I will do more exotic ones.


I found a European female mating with a Chinese male at a park a few years ago. I caught the pair and brought them home. the female never laid an egg and she got so fat her abdomen burst.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

I've seen pictures of that. I would do male european and female chinese. That way there will be more room for the ooth! The abdomen probably bursted because the offspring was too big!


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## SilentDeviL (Jan 28, 2014)

I have already mated Polyspilota aeruginosa &amp; Polyspilota griffinii Hybrid and the Nymphs from the hatching ooth grow to Adult . and mated with her brothers . so yes is possible with in the same sp I'm waiting for the ooth to hatch . to prove the success ...but the point is it has to hatch to this story to continue.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 28, 2014)

That is cool. But I am thinking different. I'm thinking different sp. And for anyone who thinks it's impossible, I'm just being optimistic


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## Extrememantid (Jan 28, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> That is cool. But I am thinking different. I'm thinking different sp. And for anyone who thinks it's impossible, I'm just being optimistic


Why would it matter if someone beat you to it? It would just be useful for you.. If it works for them it might work for you.. If not why waste your time?


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## Ranitomeya (Jan 29, 2014)

Most attempts at hybridization will fail due to structural incompatibility. It's like trying to unlock something using the wrong key--the key does not fit. If they do happen to mate successfully, they may not be able to produce viable offspring after the eggs are fertilized and laid due to incompatible chromosomes and genes. If viable offspring is somehow produced despite incompatible chromosomes--usually a result of mating two separate, but closely related species--we often see one or both sexes of the offspring being infertile. There are exceptions of course, but those are rare and often evidence that the two species are much more closely related than previously thought.



I_love_mantids said:


> I've seen pictures of that. I would do male european and female chinese. That way there will be more room for the ooth! The abdomen probably bursted because the offspring was too big!


Mantids, like most insects, do not produce fertilized eggs until the process of egg laying. Eggs must pass by the spermatheca where sperm from mating is stored so that they can be fertilized through the micropyle just prior to being laid. The genetics of the male does not determine the number of eggs produced--the number of eggs within a female is determined by her genetics and nutrition and not the genes of the male mantis.


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## Rick (Jan 29, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> That is cool. But I am thinking different. I'm thinking different sp. And for anyone who thinks it's impossible, I'm just being optimistic


It isn't possible. That is why there are different species to begin with. Ranitomeya explained it already. If you doubt what he said I suggest taking a basic genetics class. The only way you can crossbreed is between species of the same genus that are already very closely related.


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## Krissim Klaw (Jan 29, 2014)

Since there are already so many different speicies of mantises out there, with vastly different looks,I don't see what the excitement would be in trying to cross breed in the first place.


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 29, 2014)

But wouldn't it be cool to have an orchid/ghost hybrid?


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## Extrememantid (Jan 29, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> But wouldn't it be cool to have an orchid/ghost hybrid?


Yea.. But that's why we can dream lol


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 29, 2014)

It is probably impossible. But it still never hurts to try... except it may hurt the male...


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## Extrememantid (Jan 29, 2014)

I_love_mantids said:


> It is probably impossible. But it still never hurts to try... except it may hurt the male...


Lol the size of the male orchid would not work.. Female probably wouldn't even notice.. Or she would think its a fly, and his sex organs probably wouldn't fit a females


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## I_love_mantids (Jan 29, 2014)

what if it was female orchid and male ghost... Well, that's actually a way bigger size comparison... But it might work better. This would be impossible but it would be cool if somebody bred a walking stick and a mantis.


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## Ranitomeya (Jan 29, 2014)

What you're thinking of does not work with breeding, it's simply not possible in any natural way. It would require human intervention through the use of genetic modification.
It's like trying to breed a human with a rhesus monkey.


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## Rick (Jan 29, 2014)

Ranitomeya said:


> What you're thinking of does not work with breeding, it's simply not possible in any natural way. It would require human intervention through the use of genetic modification.
> 
> It's like trying to breed a human with a rhesus monkey.


Exactly. It is clear some of you don't understand why this simply cannot work. The physical compatibility of the genitalia is just one of many issues here.


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## Digger (Jan 29, 2014)

FRANKENMANTIS !!


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## Noah Vanderstine (Feb 3, 2014)

No it actually hurts the breed of mantids you want to keep pure stock if your cross breeding sp your in the hobby for all the wrong reasons and its been done with basically creos and psudocreobroter but then you have two sp of not pure stock to eaches own I'm totally against it 100% , but there your insects not mine ! And there is absolutely nonspecial way to do it so I have no idea what that means ! And breeding a ghost to an orchid for example will not work at all !

Like not to name anyone but 2 years ago someone bred a Davidsoni male To a female orchid and nothing worked out ! But again to eaches own !


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## Sticky (Feb 4, 2014)

This makes me think of something I read years ago. You can breed a cotton tail rabbit with a european wild rabbit. The embryos divide afew times then die. It just doesn't work.


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