# MIOMANTIS



## jarek (Jun 10, 2007)

to day I bought subadult female of that species but the thing is she is bigger even than my adult female, is this possible that that someti,es mabtid grow bigger than usually?


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## Hypoponera (Jun 10, 2007)

It is possible for quite some variation in size. I have several Stegmomantis limbata specimens that I reared out of the same ootheca. The adult females range in size from 1 1/2 inches to nearly 3 inches. Oddly, all the males are the same length, 2 1/4 inches.

Another possibility is that one of your mantids has been misidentified. You may actually have 2 mantids of different species. It has happened to me more then once. I have caught more then one S. californica only to find out later that I actually caught S. limbata.+


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## OGIGA (Jun 10, 2007)

Oh dear. How do you tell? I found mine outside too.


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## Hypoponera (Jun 10, 2007)

The males are easy to tell apart. S. californica males have some brown banding on the upper surface of the first 4 abdomenal segments. S. limbata males do not have those markings. The S. limbata females have the bright yellowish hind wings while S. californica do not. My problem is that it is hard to see these details on a live mantid. So my assumptions of species has to wait until the mantids die.

Do you have a Stegmomantis other then californica in your area?


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## OGIGA (Jun 10, 2007)

I don't know how to find out if there are other stagmomantises in my area. Also, my male got eaten while I was not present so I guess I'll have to wait until next generation to find those bands.


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## jarek (Jun 11, 2007)

yes but I bought mine in petshop, they said thsy should be the same species but she is big one and I am not sure.


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## Hypoponera (Jun 11, 2007)

I have found that pet shops don't always have the best info on identification of inverts. I have seen tarantulas being sold as "giant wolf spiders". So it is quite possible that you now have 2 different species. Maybe you could post some photos for others to try to check the identification.


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## Hypoponera (Jun 11, 2007)

I wish we had some pet stores here that sold mantids. I can get scorpions, tarantulas and African millipedes. But no mantids. They don't even sell ootheca. Though I can buy European and Chinese ootheca at most local gardening stores.


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## Butterfly (Jun 11, 2007)

> I have caught more then one S. californica only to find out later that I actually caught S. limbata.+


I had the exact opposite, I found what I was told was a S. Limbata only to get told once her ooths hatched that it was an S. Californica, lol


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## Mettler (Jun 11, 2007)

What sort of Miomantis is it? If it's the Miomantis Caffra like we have here in New Zealand, then I've never seen any size variations... they all grow to exactly 40mm long when fully grown... if it's younger but bigger, it's probably just fatter from having eaten more, or pregnant.


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