# Some pics in the museum



## yen_saw (Jan 3, 2008)

Here are some pics (mostly taken by my son) to share for a recent trip to the museum.

Some Texas mantis specimen







Can't miss out the chance to photograph this one!











Orchid enclosure - can you find the orchid mantis? she is actually one of my second generation orchid mantis exhibit there.











SOme random pics


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## yen_saw (Jan 3, 2008)

and more....


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## yen_saw (Jan 3, 2008)

and yet some more... no thanks to the limit of pics i can post in one thread  














































Sorry for the poor pic quality, netiehr my son nor myself is professioner photographer B)


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## macro junkie (Jan 3, 2008)

dam yen..whats this about then..u have your own museum or something..u have alot of stuff.


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## idolomantis (Jan 3, 2008)

one of the stick insects is called _Anisomorpha buprestoides_.. they sprays venom out ther neck.. nice little buggie


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## Mantida (Jan 3, 2008)

I couldn't find the orchid mantis. :lol:


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## Andrew (Jan 3, 2008)

Wow, looks like fun. Too bad I don't live in Texas. &lt;_&lt;


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## hibiscusmile (Jan 3, 2008)

&lt;_&lt; humpt! when your son is tired of taking pictures for you could you send him here to take some for me?


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## robo mantis (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice pictures i should find a local insect museum and donate. You guys have a nice museum down there! The orchid exhibit is really cool but i still can't find the orchid!  You guys have some native leaf cutter ants by you!!! You are so lucky!! hahaha i would go outside and catch colonies! With my dumb luck i would find some lost species of ant that hasn't been seen in like 50 years haha  One thing i would have to figure out is will they think i'm some insect smuggler if i brought some mantids in?


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## yen_saw (Jan 4, 2008)

macro junkie said:


> dam yen..whats this about then..u have your own museum or something..u have alot of stuff.


Ha i wished!! That is the Houston Museum of Natural Sceince, i volunteer in the insect zoo section from the butterfly center there, which is a small section of the museum.



hibiscusmile said:


> &lt;_&lt; humpt! when your son is tired of taking pictures for you could you send him here to take some for me?


I don't know about that Becky, he also likes to spray water on your mantis and if you don't scream at him he might just drown all your mantis!! :lol: so i would rather him staying here than going around killing your mantis  



robo mantis said:


> Nice pictures i should find a local insect museum and donate. You guys have a nice museum down there! The orchid exhibit is really cool but i still can't find the orchid!  You guys have some native leaf cutter ants by you!!! You are so lucky!! hahaha i would go outside and catch colonies! With my dumb luck i would find some lost species of ant that hasn't been seen in like 50 years haha  One thing i would have to figure out is will they think i'm some insect smuggler if i brought some mantids in?


Actually i hate ants! they seems to know how to find a way into the mantis net cage and start to build nest there. However, _Atta texana_ is cool species! I donated several species of mantis there, i couldn't find Texas unicorn mantis in the exhibition so probably they are in the nursery room.

You can find the orchid mantis on the second pic, hiding deep on the top right corner of the cage. She is a large orchid mantis but it is a big cage.  The orchid mantis is not visible on the first pic.


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## Ian (Jan 4, 2008)

Awesome photos Yen! That museum looks fantastic, would like something like that here in the UK. I think the natural history museum has a large collection of insects, but nothing that's actually on display to the public.

Wonderful Choeradodis I must say


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## yen_saw (Jan 4, 2008)

Thanks Ian  

yeah that's a nice _Choeradodis sp._ not sure about the species, could be the _rhombicollis_.


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## robo mantis (Jan 5, 2008)

yen_saw said:


> Actually i hate ants! they seems to know how to find a way into the mantis net cage and start to build nest there.


nests in your cages? how? you see a queen? any pictures because i have a slight idea of whats going on!


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## yen_saw (Jan 5, 2008)

This is a very small ant, i didn't take the pics. i have no idea what species Mark. When i clean the cage sometimes i see loads of them clump in one area burried under loads of dead flies or mantis poop. I clean the cages more often now and hardly see them again, but i know there will be back in no time if i leave the cage unclean.


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## Rick (Jan 5, 2008)

That is great you can donate live mantids. When we did the bugfest here at the Museum we couldn't even bring exotics to show them.


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## robo mantis (Jan 5, 2008)

Oh. They are pharoh ants or theif ants. Theif ants have 20 ants in a colony.


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## Morpheus uk (Jan 5, 2008)

Wow, i wish we had museums with live exhibits like that over here, bloody heck, u guys got amazing museums, japans got beetle shops and we have pets mart &lt;_&lt;


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## yen_saw (Jan 5, 2008)

Rick said:


> That is great you can donate live mantids. When we did the bugfest here at the Museum we couldn't even bring exotics to show them.


I think in your case was that you (as the owner of the insects) are displaying the bugs to the public instead of the museum, eventhough the bugfest took place in the museum, so there could be a legitimate issue. If you give it to the museum for permanent exhibition that could be different story.



robo mantis said:


> Oh. They are pharoh ants or theif ants. Theif ants have 20 ants in a colony.


I think you are right Mark, annoying little ants although they don't really bite.



Morpheus uk said:


> Wow, i wish we had museums with live exhibits like that over here, bloody heck, u guys got amazing museums, japans got beetle shops and we have pets mart &lt;_&lt;


Thanks Morpheus, although i have to say this museum is more into fossil stuff rather than bugs, like the recent "Lucy" exhibition here which Smithsonian in DC decline to exhibit due to the relic status.


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## robo mantis (Jan 6, 2008)

Yeah! Those Colonies get annoying they are at my school! They mate in the school!!! They make nests in our lockers!!!!


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