Ghost question

[Mantibama]

I hope this is question is clear, if not I'll get a pic but I don't know how successful I'll be with photography anyway. I have three P. paradoxa and I keep going back and forth between whether or not I have males or females. Two molted yesterday and I could count 7 segments while they were drying but after they turned dark brown again I started counting 8 (I have no clue why), they also all have skinny leaf protrusions from their heads, while thick protrusions seem to be consistent in every female ghost picture I've seen, so I suspect they are all likely male and I'm just really deluding myself into thinking one is female. If I have all males I will want to post on the wanted section of this forum at the appropriate time. Anyway, this is the first molt where I've noticed the wing buds actually protrude further than the abdomen, similar to a lot of the subadult pictures I've seen on this forum, various websites, and Yen's awesome mantis logs. Is the subadult stage the only time where the wing buds will protrude further then the abdomen or does it happen in previous instars as well? If it only occurs at subadult stage (although this seems like an obvious yes I'll ask the experts) should I post a wanted thread for a subadult female now?

Thanks!

 

[ismart]

Post a pic of there heads. It's really easy to tell by there crown weather or not they are male or female. From what you mentioned. It does sound like you have all sub-adult males?

 

[Katnapper]

Post a pic of there heads. It's really easy to tell by there crown weather or not they are male or female.

+1... Taken from the front if possible.

 

[Mantibama]

Well that was a pain but here goes:

I couldn't get this one out, but this one I can definitely count 8 segments on:

I also managed to get his pic with a side profile showing the wing buds extending beyond the abdomen (consistent for all of them):

Here is suspected male 2:

And last but not least:

 

[ismart]

Yep, all sub-adult males.

 

[ABbuggin]

+1 A bit unlucky. I've been worse off before though. I once had 15 New Zealand mantids set aside for breeding. All 15 were males. :wacko: :blink:

 

[revmdn]

+1 A bit unlucky. I've been worse off before though. I once had 15 New Zealand mantids set aside for bredding. All 15 were males. :wacko: :blink:

That really stinks.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Can u post the abdomens? I think the one is a girl!