Almost tae longest playa in da traencaes...

[Kruszakus]

Here are some lousy pics of my Heterochaeta pre-sub female. She is about 9.5-10 cm long.

This way to the grocery store...

Once it's sunny again, I'm gonna try and take more - my camera does not work well with dim light.

 

[Ricky Ortiz]

Wow thats amazing looks just like a stick I'm really starting to like mantids more and more

 

[ismart]

Wow! How much bigger do the females get as adult?

 

[Kruszakus]

I have no idea. From what vague imput I've gathered so far, I'd say about 13 cm long. They aren't that hard to keep eighter.

 

[ismart]

Impressive! Thats a long mantid! Do you have any males?

 

[Kruszakus]

Impressive! Thats a long mantid! Do you have any males?

I've got at least 6 pairs of those, 22 nymphs in total. It's kinda difficult to *** them in their enclosure, they blend very well with their surroundings. They have little appendages on the upper side of their abdomen, which they appear to be able to "inflate", and which look like little buds on a twig. Quite an amazing type of camo, I haven't seen anything like it before.

 

[ismart]

That is different. Maybe the inflatable buds will inflate into leaves as adult. :lol: Are all 22 in the same enclosure?

 

[Katnapper]

"WOW" is definitely the first thing that comes to mind upon seeing these pics, Krusz! Great stick camouflage! Sending you the best of luck with raising and breeding them. I can think of one person, at least, who would like to try them someday (me!). :lol:

 

[hibiscusmile]

Those are so neat looking, Almost like some of the hair clips for sale here, wonder if it would hold back me locks! haha,

 

[Rick]

Very cool mantis.

 

[Kruszakus]

I've been keeping them together since L1, they seem to tolerate each other pretty well. They spend most of their time sitting in the same spot, with their arms spread. Sometimes, they kinda stumble around and bump into each other, but nothing ever happens then - no boxing, no fighting, no nothing.

I hope I can breed them, because I'm kinda fed up with Empusidse due to all the stress and expenses involved, and I'd like to switch to something a little more pleasant. So far, Heterochaeta have never mismolted or died on me - they don't need high temperatures, special types of sut-up, nor do they need vast amounts of flies. You just keep them at 24-28C, 60-70% humidity, and they do fine just fine

 

[sufistic]

That's a beautiful mantis right there. Kinda reminds me of Toxos but they look much more sturdier and not as fragile.

 

[tier]

Hi mate,

very nice! I like the forelegs a lot.

The female adults of H. occidentalis IGM No. 173 which are in stock in Germany right now reach sizes of 14cm (with Cerci) I was told.

regards

 

[Opivy]

those are awesome! Looks like they have horns =0

 

[Kruszakus]

those are awesome! Looks like they have horns =0

This might be actually kinda accurate, I don't think that the spiky ends of their eyes are nothing else but spikes. Just look at this picture of Heterochaeta orientalis:

Pic taken from: http://ttwebbase.dyndns.org/mantid/view/167.html

I thought, that I had H orientalis, but now I don't know - the colors don't seem to match with mine. Maybe Christian will help, once mine are adult.

 

[sufistic]

From what I know, there are 11 known Heterochaeta species. Identifying the exact one based on photos could prove difficult.

 

[tier]

H. orientalis or H. occidentalis ? ;-)

edit: I do not want to ID them, but maybe you have the same we have here in Germany which is H. occidentalis. The colours fit better. The pictures of H. orientalis from Sören you linked are some years old. So maybe you mixed up the names, but you have the same we have in Germany RIGHT NOW:H. occidentalis. The size would also fit, as your subadult is 10cm and an adult of H. occidentalis is 14cm, which would fit.

regards

 

[Kruszakus]

I would not be surprised if it were correct. I don't remember which three strains of Heterochaeta inhabit Tansania, but I remember H. orientalis being one of them. I just assumed, that mine could be H. orientalis, but it seems like it's something different. Too bad I ain't got any pics od H. occidentalis to compare with mine.

 

[Christian]

Kruszakus has another species. I cannot confirm yet that it is H. orientalis, but it is not H. occidentalis; the color is not important in this case. Mines are both grey and brown. H. occidentalis doesn't occur in Tansania either.

@Sufistic: Heterochaeta is somewhat related to the Toxoderids; morphological and genetical data are still somewhat contradictory though.