Haania sp. (Moss Mantis)

[Precarious]

Thanks everyone!

Well the male molted perfectly. I didn't witness a connection until this morning and the female has already laid 4 ooths. They may be duds or it could be I just missed an earlier connection. Time will tell.

 

[twolfe]

Did the connection last a long time? I'm hoping you missed a connection and that ALL of your ooths turn out to be fertile!

That's one the cutest nymphs.

Thanks for the update on this species. I'm sure we are all hoping you have success.

 

[Precarious]

Did the connection last a long time? I'm hoping you missed a connection and that ALL of your ooths turn out to be fertile!

That's one the cutest nymphs.

Thanks for the update on this species. I'm sure we are all hoping you have success.

Not very long. Maybe an hour or less that I saw so there is a good chance I just missed it before. I hope they're all fertile because some are pretty big by Haania standards. One looks like about 12-14 nymphs. 6-8 seems to be the average.

The nymphs are so tiny I have to really search for them. I usually don't spot them unless they move. And the ooths are so small they're nearly impossible to find. It's a good thing I've witnessed every time she lays so far. When they're in the moss you can't even see them. They're blue at first but quickly turn dark brown. I watcher her lay one, knew exactly where she laid but still had a very hard time locating it. I can see why no one finds ooths in the wild.

 

[-db-]

Every single picture and video in this thread are stunning. I feel like these pics should be published in a magazine. Great work! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Precarious]

Every single picture and video in this thread are stunning. I feel like these pics should be published in a magazine. Great work! Thank you for sharing.

I'll make you a deal. If you can get a publisher to back this magazine I'll supply all the photos...

 

[aesculpius]

You generate enough buzz around your own mantises that if you grouped a few people together you could probably make a quarterly ezine about mantises. I doubt there's enough of a market to do just mantises though :<

 

[Precarious]

You generate enough buzz around your own mantises that if you grouped a few people together you could probably make a quarterly ezine about mantises. I doubt there's enough of a market to do just mantises though :<

Oh, I know. That was just a little joke. It's not worth the trouble to produce a periodical geared towards mantids. Not a big enough audience. I'll stick to videos and photography where I can at least make a little money.

 

[Sticky]

Too bad you won't create this magazine!! Id love to subscribe to it! It would be wonderful.

 

[-db-]

I'll make you a deal. If you can get a publisher to back this magazine I'll supply all the photos...

Ok, let me check my connections. I wish I could get backing for that magazine. I would buy the first copy!!

 

[Precarious]

In case anyone is curious, this is how Haania prefer to deposit ooths. I mounted this branch vertically across the top of their enclosure with the lichen hanging down. The female hangs from the tip of the lichen to deposit the ova. I have white circles over the ova in the last frame of the closeups to show where each nymph will emerge. As you can see, ova count is low (9 and 12) as is common for small species, but the female lays an ooth about every 4 days. I would guess the reason for this is that in order for such a tiny female to carry more ova at once the nymphs would have to be too small. As it is they require sprintails.

 

[bobericc]

Wow nice cam to get an ova count on the ooth, but as the saying goes don't count your chickens lol hope you get better numbers

 

[Precarious]

Wow nice cam to get an ova count on the ooth, but as the saying goes don't count your chickens lol hope you get better numbers

Haha! 12 is actually a high number for this species. I received an ooth from someone and it only had 3 ova! Of those 3 one nymph got stuck. So I collected 5 ooths so far from this female and they are all a decent size. Should be a good haul.

I saw your ad so you must be doing great with the Heterochaetas. That's awesome! Keep up the good work.

 

[Precarious]

So far so good. Adults still going strong. Nymphs doing well and now L2.

Here is a video of one of the nymphs hunting springtails.

 

[sally]

Fantastic video

 

[Precarious]

Fantastic video

Thanks! I'd never seen springtails in that much detail other than in stills. Pretty interesting to see how they bob their heads as they run around. They look like little alien bunnies!

 

[jsorigami]

Very nice video! how big is the L2 mantis?

 

[Crazy4mantis]

WOW. we need to get these established asap

 

[Precarious]

Very nice video! how big is the L2 mantis?

Just barely larger than L1. Watch the end of the L1 video to see it on my hand. It's about half the size of a grain of rice or about 1.5x the size of a hydei fruit fly. If you know how small springtails are you can judge by that.

 

[dmina]

I Want 1... I want 1

Beautiful... all the photo's

The whole story..

thanks for sharing...

NOW... Where do I place my order????

 

[Krissim Klaw]

Thanks! I'd never seen springtails in that much detail other than in stills. Pretty interesting to see how they bob their heads as they run around. They look like little alien bunnies!

I get way more amusement out of watching springtails run around than I should probably admit. I stare at the ones in my my roach tank all the time. I love the way their little antennae vibrate. It was fun seeing them so up close in your video, even if they were being made into a meal.