Giant Devil's Flower Mantis, IDOLOMANTIS DIABOLICA

[Darkrai283]

[30.01.15]


The pre-sub female moulted to subadult.

Moulting video:





IMG_2418 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2420 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2421 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2437 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2454 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2453 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2435 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[dmina]

She is pretty...Looks very healthy...fingers crossed for the next molt... Thanks for sharing... and keep us updated...

 

[Darkrai283]

[13.02.15]

Some pics of the subadult female.

IMG_2652 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2643 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_2654 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[macromatt]

Really interesting thread! Love the timelapse!

 

[dmina]

She sure is pretty.. fingers crossed for the next molt! keep us updated...

 

[Darkrai283]

[04.02.15]

Looking gorgeous.

IMG_0863 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[14.03.15]


The wingbuds are finally starting to lift off the body.

IMG_1696 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1720 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[16.03.15]

... and now they're starting to puff up.

IMG_1766 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1764 by Darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1770 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

[27.03.15]

Well, bad news. She moulted to adult on Monday (23rd) but it was a mismoult. It was as if her old skin on the pronotum didn't come off the new body underneath at all. The infamous 'S' mismoult.

I hope to be having a go at this species again sometime soon though with a larger number of specimens.

Here's a pic of her after 4 days in the freezer.

IMG_3238 by Darkrai283, on Flickr

 

[Darkrai283]

Really interesting thread! Love the timelapse!

She sure is pretty.. fingers crossed for the next molt! keep us updated...

Thanks. I hope to not mess anything up the next time I have a go with these guys.