# Found a plump green S. limbata female!



## cloud jaguar (Sep 9, 2009)

I just returned from a botanical garden in the los angeles area. Their roses were hanging with plump green mantids like grapes on the vine! I was like a kid in a candy store. Within 5 minutes of viewing the roses i had seen 4 female s. limbata mantids (3 adults and 1 subadult). I had managed to secret a small collection jar in my wife's purse and flicked a plump female adult in there.

I have now 2 adult and 2 subadult females and 2 adult males. Pretty soon (next week) i will start mating them and hopefully the males do not get eaten! The other mantids i had prior were all from different locations so i expect their progeny will exhibit genetic variance.

I felt like 007 liberating that mantid. Oh well, most of her progeny will be returned to the out of doors anyways, so i wont lose any sleep over it.


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## pilotdave1970 (Sep 9, 2009)

Sweet


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## Ntsees (Sep 9, 2009)

Nice. If the female was plump like you said, she probably already mated. Then again, it's good to mate her again just in case.


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## kamakiri (Sep 9, 2009)

Er...what garden?


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## charleyandbecky (Sep 10, 2009)

I went to the arboretum today out near my house that is run by the University of Georgia forestry dept. I didn't find ONE SINGLE MANTID, although I did find what appeared to be old ooths, about seven of them. I wonder where they all were? If they had known how good they would have it, they would have been flagging me down  

Rebecca


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## kamakiri (Sep 12, 2009)

Also happened to go to a _botanical garden_ today...

...and it seems my wife has better nympho-vision than I do!

We found over a dozen adult females...we kept the fattest 6. I found a connected pair and they're still connected now.

Lots of color variation in what we kept too...gray, yellow+tan, lime green, dark green, pink-green. The two adult males are green and red-brown camo. Two sub-adult males are also red-brown-white camo.

And best of all...first thing I found was a freshly laid ooth!


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 13, 2009)

Wow, such a bounty. if you can, post some pics of those morphs - sound pretty cool looking. We have 2 adult female limbatas (1 green, 1 pink), 2 subadult yellow females , 1 subadult pink/red female, 2 olive camo male adults. I think we will mate a pair or two this weekend, time permitting.


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## Katnapper (Sep 13, 2009)

Mantis thieves!!!  LOL!! :lol: 

Congrats on finding them... I say "finders, keepers!"  

I walked out of a garden store with one on my shirt/shoulder that I'd found once, lol. I told him to shut up and stay still.


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 13, 2009)

charleyandbecky said:


> I didn't find ONE SINGLE MANTID, although I did find what appeared to be old ooths, about seven of them. I wonder where they all were? Rebecca


i dont know much about s. carolina - as for s. limbata i mostly (only?) find them on the underside of roses and zinnias. I do not know where s. carolina hangs out - i think Katnapper and Rick know - what type of plant or where do s. carolinas hang out?


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## Katnapper (Sep 13, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> what type of plant or where do s. carolinas hang out?


I find S. carolina many times on the "Burning Bush" (Euonymus alatus).


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 13, 2009)

i just googled that and saw a jpg. pretty cool looking bush. i doubt we have such a red bush in california. that bush seems to have about the same height as coastal sage. so the mantids just hang out on the stems there? do they tend to come out more in the evening? for some reason my nympho-vision is most active at night - i find it easier to spot them in silhouette.


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## Katnapper (Sep 13, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> i just googled that and saw a jpg. pretty cool looking bush. i doubt we have such a red bush in california. that bush seems to have about the same height as coastal sage. so the mantids just hang out on the stems there? do they tend to come out more in the evening? for some reason my nympho-vision is most active at night - i find it easier to spot them in silhouette.


I really don't know when they "come out" more. I rarely go mantis hunting at night. But I'd say whatever works best for you. They don't migrate off the bushes... so they should be there at any time of the day or night (if they are indeed there).


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## kamakiri (Sep 13, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Wow, such a bounty. if you can, post some pics of those morphs - sound pretty cool looking. We have 2 adult female limbatas (1 green, 1 pink), 2 subadult yellow females , 1 subadult pink/red female, 2 olive camo male adults. I think we will mate a pair or two this weekend, time permitting.


I'll get the pics up late tomorrow. I have a few pictures I took _in situ_, and a few I popped tonight, but it all needs to be downloaded and processed.

Here's a pic of (most of) them as collected, after we just got home:

Click for larger pic







Gray one is in the upper left, yellow one two below that. Upper right are the two red-brown subadult males. A few are out of this pic.


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## Ntsees (Sep 13, 2009)

kamakiri said:


> I'll get the pics up late tomorrow. I have a few pictures I took _in situ_, and a few I popped tonight, but it all needs to be downloaded and processed.Here's a pic of (most of) them as collected, after we just got home:
> 
> Click for larger pic
> 
> ...


I'm sorry to say, but that male has a very high probability of getting eaten when mating is over if it remains with the female in that small container. I hope you are able to spare him before the mating is over.


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## Matticus (Sep 13, 2009)

After seeing your success, I'm planning to visit the (plethora of) public gardens in my area.


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## kamakiri (Sep 14, 2009)

Ntsees said:


> I'm sorry to say, but that male has a very high probability of getting eaten when mating is over if it remains with the female in that small container. I hope you are able to spare him before the mating is over.


No worries. He's fine! And see how fat she is/was? She was the fattest of the bunch.

And trust me, of all those collected, a non-green male is high on my list for value. I wasn't going to leave him like that overnight.

I didn't really get to taking more pics and processing tonight...I'll try to put them up tomorrow.


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## kamakiri (Sep 15, 2009)

Finally, here are some of the pictures!

Gwyn (sorry no wing pictures, but they are yellowish/clear speckled):
















Click for LARGE forewing detail

Fatty Fat cleaning her butt (this is the one that I found mating):






Dark green:






Pink green:






Yellow pink:






Red Brown subadult male 1:






Red Brown subadult male 2:






Found ooth:


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 15, 2009)

Kamakiri, i have questions as to the location of these to help my nympho-vision:

Were they all found on roses and zinnias or is there some other plant they like? I have only found them on these two types.

Were the males and females in the same areas under flowers? I have never found a male under a flower.

Were the males and females found at the same height? I have never found adult males in nature so i am wondering.

Were the non green ones in the same place as the green ones? I have only seen green ones in nature (other than 1 yellow).

Thanks


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## kamakiri (Sep 15, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Kamakiri, i have questions as to the location of these to help my nympho-vision:Were they all found on roses and zinnias or is there some other plant they like? I have only found them on these two types.
> 
> Were the males and females in the same areas under flowers? I have never found a male under a flower.
> 
> ...


They were exactly in the places you suggested: on and under rose blooms and under the zinnias. A few other places where the bees are visiting (I need to figure out what they were!). Most things found at chest height or so, a few below that like on the zinnias which are only knee height. One male was on a white bloom(green), the other was mating (brown-green), and the two subadults (red-brown) were under red blooms.

I still need to process the in situ pics to help ID the other plants. I could also make a map for you next time you go out...

But keep in mind, we did find lots of greenies, but just released them as we found more interesting colors. As you said...they were almost like picking grapes!


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## kamakiri (Sep 15, 2009)

...or hire my wife to find them!!!


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 15, 2009)

i am looking for a male lately. My friend gave me a brown camo found male from Arcadia and a robust green female promptly ate him after mating. They started mating at about 7 pm and had not stopped by 3 am. My wife found him headless and still mating at 7 am. I have another male but he is wimpy, has already failed to mate, despite the presence of a pretty pink adult female. Perhaps she is not releasing pheromones or something - that or he is gay. Whatever the case. I will try to remate him. Provided he is not eaten and developes an appetite for mating, he will have to mate with our stunning pink/red limbata (Ashley) that came into our home during the recent fire. If he is eaten or otherwise not up to the task, perhaps I shall revisit one of the recent mantid spots around here.

I found a pink/green male yesterday! But what sucks is that he was dessicated and long dead. Oh well. Apparently he was entangled in a spider web and died there.

How about this method: What if I put a couple of female limbatas outside in net cages - would that have a tendency to work? to attract males i mean.


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## Opivy (Sep 15, 2009)

awesome find! My school has a botanical garden that I park near. Haven't yet ventured into it - but I think I'm going to check it out now


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## kamakiri (Sep 16, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> How about this method: What if I put a couple of female limbatas outside in net cages - would that have a tendency to work? to attract males i mean.


I think that may work. Maybe even if you set them by a screened window. There have been several accounts on this board of people getting males (unintendedly) that way.

Opivy - Yeah, this has got me wanting to stop at every public plot of roses...even if at the gas station, doctors office...or any of my neighbor's houses! I've also got a few gardens on my list to check...


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## kamakiri (Sep 19, 2009)

Made one more visit to the garden today...found two males...and a half!

The half was mating, and the onlooking males were nearby. I was lucky to find them all as they were pretty well hidden under leaves and not blooms.

Started the day with three more females. Gray/black camo, tan camo, and a dark redish/pink. A couple look like they might already be mated with the puncture marks at the forewing bases.


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## Opivy (Sep 19, 2009)

awesome! My friends found a mantis yesterday, just told me about it. They know I'm into them, so they'll be giving it to me =)_


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## kamakiri (Sep 21, 2009)

Two of the wild caught subadult males molted yesterday. One is silver-gray and the other is a greenie. The gray one has gray side stripes on the forewings. First time I've seen that. I'll mate him with the gray female Gwyn after she makes her first ooth.


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 21, 2009)

kamakiri said:


> One is silver-gray and the other is a greenie.


Did either of them change color morph after the final molt? I think one of our females changed from green to pink on the final molt.


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## kamakiri (Sep 21, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Did either of them change color morph after the final molt? I think one of our females changed from green to pink on the final molt.


Not really, the silver/gray is the color of his wings. The abdomen is still dark red on the top. I don't think I've seen any dramatic changes on the final molt yet. I'm sure it can happen as there have been dramatic changes at almost any other instar.


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## kamakiri (Sep 25, 2009)

Here are some of the mantises I found last Saturday:

Red/purple:







Dark camo:






Tan Camo:






Headless male mating mantises


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## cloud jaguar (Sep 25, 2009)

Excellent color morphs! I especially like the first orange-looking one and the black/orange looking halloween mantid (#2). Are they really orange or do they just look like that?

Those were not on roses were they? What plant were they on if not rose?


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## kamakiri (Sep 26, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> Excellent color morphs! I especially like the first orange-looking one and the black/orange looking halloween mantid (#2). Are they really orange or do they just look like that?Those were not on roses were they? What plant were they on if not rose?


None of those three were on roses. Unfortunately, none of the plants were labelled with markers. The dark one was on a tall plant with yellow cluster flowers in the area roughly northeast of the roses. One was on a zinnia and the other on *I think* a tall sage/savlia variant by one of the grape pergolas.

They're not really orange. The first one is like a faded red/pink/slight peach. The second one is really more tan in the light areas with hints of the pink color. The first two pics are 'color corrected' for the ambient fluorescent light I was shooting under. The third looks uncorrected and has a fluorescent cast to it.


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## kamakiri (Dec 7, 2009)

Bumping this to remind me to post the pics from the other week. One female is green/gray and the other is gray with faint yellow wings.

Also wanted to note that the whole stand of roses where I found that one ooth got pruned to the ground...so for the record, I guess I saved that ooth (or those boogers - as someone would say)!


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## yeatzee (Dec 7, 2009)

man I love this species  

I've recently been following one female who I found near my house. She was very fat with babies  After several days in a row re-finding her I got the chance to watch the ooth laying in the wild. It was pretty darn cool I must say. After that It began to rain and haven't had the chance to look again.... I fear the worst  Well thats how it goes eh?  

I look forward to maybe watching that ooth hatch in the wild!


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## kamakiri (Dec 7, 2009)

Yeatzee, you're lucky you have a population nearby! I know I have some near me after my wife found an adult female on the sidewalk a few weeks ago. I guess I don't know where to look in my neighborhood...


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## PhilinYuma (Dec 7, 2009)

kamakiri said:


> Yeatzee, you're lucky you have a population nearby! I know I have some near me after my wife found an adult female on the sidewalk a few weeks ago. I guess I don't know where to look in my neighborhood...


This so pisses me off! Here I am in the warmest (and most beautiful) area in the whole SW and I can't find a _Stagmomantis limbata_ anywhere! No ooths either. It's not right. Did you Californians lure my babies over thgere with promises of movie stardom? Shame on you!


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## yeatzee (Dec 7, 2009)

PhilinYuma said:


> This so pisses me off! Here I am in the warmest (and most beautiful) area in the whole SW and I can't find a _Stagmomantis limbata_ anywhere! No ooths either. It's not right. Did you Californians lure my babies over thgere with promises of movie stardom? Shame on you!


i dont know what your talking about phil   :lol: 

They are literally everywhere where I am, just about everytime my mom waters the plants she finds a few (and lets me know of course  ) The water makes them move from their hidin spots into the open area's which makes everything easier :lol: . I have started quite the population in my backyard thats for sure. A couple years ago I brought some females I caught at my church, to my plants, and have had them everywhere since  

No sign of any S. californica's though


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## cloud jaguar (Dec 7, 2009)

I saw my last male S. Limbata die yesterday!  He ate a couple of days ago and I had misted him a couple of hours before he died. I was watching him -- then he just fell down in his deli cup and plopped on the ground, motionless. I thought they died thrashing about or something but i guess not. I guess he was old since he was wildcaught... plus, he was missing two feet. Well, at least he got to mate like a rockstar during his lifetime.


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## Ntsees (Dec 7, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> I saw my last male S. Limbata die yesterday!  He ate a couple of days ago and I had misted him a couple of hours before he died. I was watching him -- then he just fell down in his deli cup and plopped on the ground, motionless. I thought they died thrashing about or something but i guess not. I guess he was old since he was wildcaught... plus, he was missing two feet. Well, at least he got to mate like a rockstar during his lifetime.


Your male _S. limbata _lived until December? That's quite impressive for a wild specimen because my wild males don't even live that long. Then again, it could just be because of the species or the way I care for them.


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## kamakiri (Dec 7, 2009)

Arkanis said:


> I saw my last male S. Limbata die yesterday!  He ate a couple of days ago and I had misted him a couple of hours before he died. I was watching him -- then he just fell down in his deli cup and plopped on the ground, motionless. I thought they died thrashing about or something but i guess not. I guess he was old since he was wildcaught... plus, he was missing two feet. *Well, at least he got to mate like a rockstar during his lifetime.*


 :lol: 

Well that's about the way most of the males that I've seen on their last hours go...

My latest crinkle-wing didn't even do the honors of falling. I'm not exactly sure the day he died.


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