Can you identify this?

[Sparky]

I found this mantis while playing sandcastle fortress with my little brother.

Can you identify it?

It turns pale at night and its eyes turn blood red.

 

[Rick]

Stagmomantis is my guess. Looks like it may have the large parasitic worm in it's abdomen.

 

[Sparky]

huh, really? how can you tell?

 

[Rick]

huh, really? how can you tell?

When I was a kid growing up in the midwest I often found stagmomantis carolina that had an abdomen shaped like that. Inside was a large, fat parasitic worm. Not for sure if that's the same situation here but the shape of the abdomen reminded me of it.

 

[Sparky]

Well it was skinny and thin, but it ate 4 fruitflies before I took the picture.

 

[Rick]

Well it was skinny and thin, but it ate 4 fruitflies before I took the picture.

Four fruitflies made it swell up like that? No way unless it's much smaller than it appears in the pic.

 

[Asa]

I think he said in another post that it was much smaller.

 

[chrisbrock]

looks teeny tiny to me

 

[Sparky]

it is teeny tiny. Its not even an inch.

 

[OGIGA]

Rick, is there something common in all stagmomantis? How can you tell that this is stagmomantis?

 

[Morpheus uk]

I saw a picture while browsing the other day and it had a near identical mantis and said it was a linor ground mantis or summut like that

 

[robo mantis]

Rick is the ownzor when it comes to mantids :wink:

 

[Asa]

I don't understand all this at all...

 

[robo mantis]

Just go along with it :wink:

 

[Sparky]

YAY!!! When I woke up this morning it molted!

It looks waaayy bigger and not like a puny runt anymore! :lol:

 

[robo mantis]

Congrats

 

[Asa]

Nah, I bet its still a puny runt. :lol:

 

[Sparky]

well its small but it looks way bigger than its small self so the fact that

it got bigger surley makes it not a runt but a big runt.

 

[Sparky]

wow, hes really bad at catching prey and won't eat unless I hand feed him.