# Hello from Perth



## DonovanMD (Oct 26, 2009)

H there. Another newb here. I'm originally from Canada living now in Perth, Australia as my wife is an Aussie. I'm 24 and fell into this hobby after planting a strawberry and veg garden this spring and having a little green mantis show up and protect my strawberries, which were being ravaged by pests. Not sure what the species is, but is quite small, 1-1.5 inches, green and pretty sure its a female. I'm looking for more around the house now to transplant into my garden and also planning to stat keeping some as pets. I've never been much interested in bugs but something about Mantis' are so interesting. Even my wife has taken to them.

Anyway, great forum to find, an excellent resource for hobbyists no doubt.

-Donovan


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## Emile.Wilson (Oct 26, 2009)

Welcome to the forum. I live in British columbia, But i was born in Ontario.


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## sbugir (Oct 26, 2009)

Welcome, originally from Aus myself


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## DonovanMD (Oct 26, 2009)

Emile said:


> Welcome to the forum. I live in British columbia, But i was born in Ontario.


I'm originally from Edmonton actually. Hard to follow the Oilers living in Perth now...


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## Katnapper (Oct 27, 2009)

Hi Donovan, and welcome to the forum... glad to have you here.  It's funny how those wild mantids we come across suck us into the hobby, hehe! Yes, you'll find a wealth of information here and I hope you and your wife enjoy getting into your new hobby.


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## Rick (Oct 27, 2009)

Welcome


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## hibiscusmile (Oct 27, 2009)

Welcome, u probably got a new zealand mantis, but a pic would be great! glad u r here, from OHIO!


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## revmdn (Oct 27, 2009)

Welcome.


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## ismart (Oct 27, 2009)

Welcome to the forum! :lol:


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## jameslongo (Oct 27, 2009)

Hey mate, welcome the the forum. PM sent, by the way. I've learnt a lot since finding this site &amp; I hope you will too.



hibiscusmile said:


> u probably got a new zealand mantis


Ain't no new zealand mantis in Australia. Same genus but a different species known as the Garden Mantis (_O. ministralis_). It could also be a False Garden Mantis (_Pseudomantis albofimbriata_).


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## Emile.Wilson (Oct 27, 2009)

jameslongo said:


> Ain't no new zealand mantis in Australia. Same genus but a different species known as the Garden Mantis (_O. ministralis_). It could also be a False Garden Mantis (_Pseudomantis albofimbriata_).


Yeah but theres new zealanders in disguise in Australia 0.0


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## superfreak (Oct 28, 2009)

i still think O ministralis and O. novaezealandiae are both sold as NZ mantis, especially overseas. perhaps christian can enlighten us?

and its too small for pseudomantis, unless its a male.


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## jameslongo (Oct 28, 2009)

superfreak said:


> and its too small for pseudomantis, unless its a male.


he didn't specify whether it was an adult or not, that's why i said Falsey.


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## PhilinYuma (Oct 28, 2009)

superfreak said:


> i still think O ministralis and O. novaezealandiae are both sold as NZ mantis, especially overseas. perhaps christian can enlighten us? and its too small for pseudomantis, unless its a male.


Hey, Superfreak. Since I am not an Entomologist, I can be Hugely Irresponsible and say that I think that the naming of Orthodera novaezealandiae is a gimic dreamed up by the New Zealand Public Morale Board to convince kiwis that they have their very own kiwi mantis, although it is clearly O. ministralis. If I am right, then it doesn't matter which putative species breeders have, and even in the (extremely unlikely  ) event that I am wrong, the species could only be reliably distinguished by its country of provenance.

The diagnosis of O. novaezealandiae can be found in _Fauna of New Zealand #19: Mantodea (Insecta)_, which, as I told you, I believe, I picked up from oz a cupla months ago. I know that Christian is familiar with this slim volume and can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that the author, G.W. Ramsay, gives the most pathetic excuse for speciation that I have ever heard. I will quote two chunks here, from p.14:

"In this situation, where the geographically isolated New Zealand population is relatively constant in its morphological characteristics yet _falls within the range of variation of the Australian population_, and has long been recognized elsewhere as a distinct, valid species, it is expedient to continue to so regard it ...... In future, should information about the Australian taxa indicating that the New Zealand population cannot be regarded as distinct, then its reduction to synonymy would be a very simple matter." (My emphasis).

So lets try the systematics of expediency, safe in the knowledge that if we get caught, we can always put things back the way they were.

And to make things even more absurd, on the same page, he mentions that "in contrast to the Australian situation, New Zealand populations of this mantid do not vary greatly in the form of the pronotum." The species is well distributed throughout both countries, but for members other than you and James Longo and our growing strine contingent, Australia, by my calculation, is about 215 times larger than N.Z., so greater variation in pronotum or ear lobe shape should be expected in Australia.  

Sorry if I'm bad tempered today, but I'm just about over the flu, which means that I have to taper off my morphine, never a pleasant experience. Goodbye, fluorescent purple butterflies.


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