Help with sex/age IDs? (H. membranacea)

[Noivurn]

I got my first mantis, Enigma, from Peter of bugsincyberspace early this month, and just yesterday it molted for the first time since I've had it. It was advertised as L2-L3 when I bought it, and since this is the first time it's molted, I'm assuming it's L4 now, but I'd love other opinions. It got SO big after the molt, I'm so proud of them!  

I'm also having trouble sexing them, so if any of the pictures are clear enough for someone more experienced to do so, I'd really appreciate it! My phone camera is... not very good, though, so I'm not sure if any of the pics are viable. 

Here are some recent pics of it, and if you'd like to see more pics, here is a gallery with all the pics I've taken of them so far! 

 

[MantisGirl13]

We really need a pic from the underside of the abdomen to tell. If I had to guess though, I'd say male.

- MantisGirl13 

 

[hysteresis]

It was advertised as L2-L3 when I bought it, and since this is the first time it's molted, I'm assuming it's L4 now

If it was L2 or L3 when purchased, one molt would make it L3 or L4. 

We really need a pic from the underside of the abdomen to tell..

Yup, hard to tell from the top.

Females have 6 sternites (abdominal segment, counted from underneath) whereas males have 8.

At the tip of the abdomen, males have the two cerci PLUS two styli just under them.

Females lack the cerci, but have an ovipositior. Small details at either instar, but maybe with a lighted magnifier

 

[Synapze]

@hysteresis Thanks for posting such an awesome reference photo! 

 

[Noivurn]

@hysteresis I guess I phrased that a bit off - I was mostly looking for opinions on whether it's now L3 or L4. It seems pretty big to me, but then I don't have any experience with how big an L4 "should" be. 

Thank you so much for the diagram, that's a huge help! I managed to get some decent pics of the underside of their abdomen (more here). To me, it looks like a female. I'm only counting 6 segments, I think, and it appears to have an ovipositor? But, again - I don't have any firsthand experience, so please let me know if you think I'm wrong! 

 

[MantisMart]

Im not good at sexing mantids either, but I think ur right. Looks like a female to me. Definitely wait for other peoples response to know for sure. Some people on this forum are amazing at sexing mantids.

 

[Noivurn]

Thanks! I'd love additional opinions? 

@hysteresis @MantisGirl13

 

[MrGhostMantis]

Looks male to me

I see a last segment making it 8.

If you are possibly interested in a pair of giant asians, I have some L2s for sale!

 

[MantisMart]

This is why I mentioned to wait for more responses.  

 

[hysteresis]

Maybe, but im gonna say wait an instar. And then snap really in-focus photo with all the lights on.

You could also just snap bright clear photo now and we might see for sure.

 

[Noivurn]

I might make my roommate get out his good camera and try to get some pics - even with my old phone (which ironically has a seriously better camera than my current phone), I couldn't get the cell phone camera to focus. 

If we can get some pics with the good camera, I'll post again. 

Thank you all for the help! 

Also, I'm not planning to breed any mantises at the moment, since this is my first one, but thank you for the offer!

 

[MantisGirl13]

That's tricky, but I say female.

- MantisGirl13