Cameron Highlands/Tapah Hills

[ismart]

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

Dude! Seriously? 15 minutes away from mantis mecca! I so hate you right now! :lol: You got to make some time!

 

[sufistic]

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

That's interesting, I've never seen a Gongy move before.

 

[sufistic]

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.

Many thanks Yen. I guess we're just in the right season. Best month according to the Orang Asli is in December.

 

[sufistic]

Absolutely incredible.

Yeah Rick, too bad we don't have a pair. If we did, we'd send some nymphs your way.

 

[sufistic]

Great video! Love the way he sways!

Yeah funny how it thinks we can't see it there by moving around like that.

 

[sufistic]

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

Bro, if you plan to go there, do tell me. I need some favors .

 

[sufistic]

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

They're there. We showed some photos to the Orang Asli and they said P.davisoni is there but it's even more difficult to find than the Toxodera. Most probably because they can only be found in the canopy rainforest layer.

 

[ismart]

They're there. We showed some photos to the Orang Asli and they said P.davisoni is there but it's even more difficult to find than the Toxodera. Most probably because they can only be found in the canopy rainforest layer.

Get your tree climbing equipment ready! :lol:

 

[Rick]

Yeah Rick, too bad we don't have a pair. If we did, we'd send some nymphs your way.

Did you find a female of each one? You live there right?

 

[sufistic]

Get your tree climbing equipment ready! :lol:

Haha yeah. If we're lucky, they'd move to the lower layers to find food if they can't get any from the upper layers.

 

[sufistic]

Did you find a female of each one? You live there right?

The Toxodera beieri nymph's a female. The other two are adult males. If only they could interbreed! Tapah Hills is in Malaysia, Singapore's neighbouring country. Takes about 7-8 hours to drive from Singapore to Tapah Hills.

There are middleman insect dealers based in Tapah and they can send mantids to anywhere (moreso Singapore because we're not that far) but they'd get their stock from the Aboriginals and sell at ridiculous prices. I already have first-hand contact with the Aboriginals and I can get their help to get more Toxos for me but they have no clue how to ship livestock safely to Singapore.

So it looks like I might have to head to Tapah Hills again if wifey permits because she's the one driving lol.

 

[massaman]

find any ooths or do they ever find any?

 

[sufistic]

find any ooths or do they ever find any?

Actually my brother did spot one ooth. We're not sure what sp. though. Although the Aboriginals are good at finding mantids, they have no clue what an ooth looks like. We showed what we found and they thought it was a butterfly cocoon!

Photos of the ooth. Perhaps someone can help ID?

 

[ABbuggin]

It's hard to identify ooths. Often, you will have to wait until the nymphs hatch and grow up.

BTW, here's one of my videos of a gongylus:

 

[brancsikia]

Where did you find the ootheca? Forest? Plantation?

I looks similar to Statilia ootheca.

It does not look like hatched and most wasps make very distinct holes when they leave the eggcase.

regards

 

[gadunka888]

the ooth looks like tropidomantis sp.

 

[ABbuggin]

the ooth looks like tropidomantis sp.

Pretty sure its not one of those. (I've had them before)

 

[massaman]

The tropidomantis ooths are very tiny if I remember correctly!

 

[yen_saw]

The ootheca looks similar to Statilia sp. as Brancsikia stated. Is the ootheca about 1-1.5 inch long?

Following is the hatched Statilia sp. ootheca found in Hong Kong this Summer.

Another fresh Statilia sp. found in Hong Kong, the ootheca hatched out and was later identified as S. nemoralis.

This is the Statilia maculata oothecae I am incubating right now.

As you can see the shape is about the same as the one you have collected there. Not sure what species but we can always till it hatches and the nymphs grow bigger. The ooth looks fresh. If it indeed is Statilia sp. expect to see about 60-100 ever-thirsty nymphs. Good luck!

 

[khabirun]

Sorry guys, but i think i have to post more of the Toxodera beieri pictures, i just can't get enough of her lol and sorry bout the bad pictures, she moves too much and its hard for me to take pictures

here it goes...