Cameron Highlands/Tapah Hills

[Christian]

The "Citharomantis" ones are Acromantis.

The Toxos are:

Stenotoxodera porioni

Toxodera fimbriata

Toxodera beieri (the nymph).

Do you have habitat pics of those?

 

[revmdn]

Amazing!

 

[gadunka888]

Many thanks Yen. You're right about the Orang Asli collecting durians haha. Along the old Tapah route heading to Cameron, there are many villages and at this one area, you can find the bug-hunting Orang Asli. They all seem to be located in that particular village. If you're heading there again, we can give you the exact location. We gave them tips for helping us hunt the mantids because after all it's their main income. You were actually really lucky to have found an Orchid not too deep in the rainforests. We found one female Orchid really deep in the forests about 15 ft above the ground, perching on a particular flower. According to the Orang Asli, T.elegans and H.coronatus will usually be found among these flowers. I'm not sure about the type of the flower but I'll try and find out when I can.

do you have pics of the flower? i can help you ID them.

Are the t. elegans still surviving? what do you feed them?

 

[Teaspoons]

Those photos are just amazing, it is great to see so

may beautiful and unusual species!

 

[sufistic]

The "Citharomantis" ones are Acromantis.The Toxos are:

Stenotoxodera porioni

Toxodera fimbriata

Toxodera beieri (the nymph).

Do you have habitat pics of those?

Thanks for the ID. As you noticed, we didn't take much photos in the wild because it's the rainy season here in South East Asia. As for the Toxos, what we've learnt from the Aboriginals is that they're usually found at the understory level where it's not too thick as they need a lot of space. Toxos in captivity usually don't do well because of space. If plants and ample space are not provided, they'd start eating their limbs due to stress and eventually kill themselves.

 

[sufistic]

do you have pics of the flower? i can help you ID them. Are the t. elegans still surviving? what do you feed them?

You can see the flower on the photos of the Orchid mantis we found. That's just one kind of flower though. The Aboriginals call those 'Bunga Bakol'. Other than flowers, they can be found on frangipanis, papaya trees, etc.

All of our T.elegans are doing well. We've been feeding them butterflies and mealworms. The butterflies we have are too big though (we got some from the Aboriginals) and they're a bit clueless when it comes to catching the mealworms. So what we do is, cut the butterflies' and mealworms' heads (we feed the heads to smaller species), dip the punctured thorax in pure honey and let them have a taste of the honey. Once the honey is consumed, they will start chewing on the thorax and hold the food themselves.

 

[sufistic]

Howdy Shaik, glad to know the tips help, and thanks for the info on Tapah route. The Orang Asli residing along Simpang pulai way appear to be more interested with commercial works like strawberry, tea, and vegi plantations and setting road side stalls selling durian and honey rather than bugs, i must have been there at the wrong season . The old route has lot of stomach churning winding road full of dangerous blind spots and landslide issue but the scenery is majestic, did you snap any pic at Iskandar Falls? Have a safe trip driving back to Singapore (believed you have arrived by this time), and i hope you enjoy Teh Boh from this trip

Thanks again Yen. Yeah the old route is dangerous but well worth it. Thank God my wife's an excellent driver (7-8 hrs drive to and from Singapore plus the winding road!) We didn't snap any photos of the Iskandar Falls. We didn't get to use the camera much because of the rainy season.

 

[sufistic]

Grand photos and best of luck with the breeding! Too bad you couldn't find the mates to the Toxodera sp. Thanks for sharing the pics with us!

Many thanks. Yeah too bad we couldn't find the Toxo mates. They're really tough to spot. Oh well, we'll definitely make a few more trips there. The prime location for hunting mantids there is not in Cameron Highlands itself. Many people get confused because people like to say they found this and that in Cameron Highlands. The mantids to be found in Cameron Highlands itself are usually the smaller species. There is no chance of finding H.coronatus, Deroplatys sp., T.elegans and Toxodera sp. in Cameron Highlands.

Best location to look for larger mantids is between Tapah and Cameron Highlands at an elevation of 1000-2000 ft. This region is usually called 'Tapah Hills'.

 

[sufistic]

I will! Those Toxodera sp. are insane looking! :blink: It's almost hard to imagine such a mantis even exist!

Thanks ismart. Yeah we couldn't believe our eyes when we first saw the Toxos, especially the nymph. They're so out of this world. The photos we took don't do justice to their beauty and awesomeness. In terms of camouflage, I think no other mantis beats the Toxos. This is why they're hard to spot. According to the Aboriginals, the Toxodera sp in Tapah Hills are abundant. They've seen like 4-5 different species of Toxodera. This is good news because even though they're not in culture yet, they're all still out there and doing well.

 

[Christian]

Thanks for the info!

 

[sufistic]

Short video clip of the Toxodera beieri nymph here.

 

[revmdn]

Wow! So cool.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Awesome video! Thanks for posting that. What an incredibly cool little beast that nymph is!

 

[sufistic]

Awesome video! Thanks for posting that. What an incredibly cool little beast that nymph is!

Many thanks. Sorry for the terribly quality though, it was taken using a crappy iPhone. This little beast can easily be handled just like any mantis. Too bad we couldn't find a pair. Once it reaches adulthood, I might make another trip to find its mate or just release it back into the wild. I'd rather let this beautiful species live free than let it die all alone in Singapore.

 

[yen_saw]

Wonderful collection guys! Thanks a bunch for sharing the pics with us. The Toxodera mantis looks like from out of this world! :blink: Your collection definitely dwarfs the one i did back in June. All the best in finding more cool species on your next trip.

 

[ABbuggin]

Great video! The Toxo wiggles a lot like gongylus do.

 

[Rick]

Absolutely incredible.

 

[ismart]

Great video! Love the way he sways!

 

[C.way]

addictive movement, I'm eager to head to tapah hill now consider that I can reach there in 15 minutes drive...but with no time...argh...addictive

 

[massaman]

Just wonder if those yellow flower mantids (Parymenopus Davisoni) would reside in that area or more near borneo or someplace!