L1/first instar comparison (appearance only)

[Precarious]

This is a great thread and great photos! Keep it going!

 

[sinensispsyched]

^

I Ditto!

 

[Mime454]

I will send you some Taumantis nymphs L1 for the price of shipping when they hatch if you want to add them here. They're a cool red color.

 

[alan2296]

AWESOME!!! you certainly have an awesome collection of mantids, Tammy!!!

 

[twolfe]

Nice shots now people can see the different looks in each species in detail .

SilentDeviL, I like the new avatar!

This is a great thread and great photos! Keep it going!

I hope to keep it going. I can't wait for the purple boxers.

I will send you some Taumantis nymphs L1 for the price of shipping when they hatch if you want to add them here. They're a cool red color.

That would be great. I looked at Taumantis again, and one of them looks like a cross between an Oxy and something else. Does the red color last through the first instar?

AWESOME!!! you certainly have an awesome collection of mantids, Tammy!!!

Thanks, but I don't currently have all of these species. Some were photographed last year.

 

[Mime454]

That would be great. I looked at Taumantis again, and one of them looks like a cross between an Oxy and something else. Does the red color last through the first instar?

I thnk it only stays for the first instar. I got mine at L3 and she was really green!

 

[blackmerlin]

hey Tammy ，we chat today, rember ? may i use two of ur pic to tell people in china what is the difference between orchind mantis and Creobroter sp first instar i will explain the pic is from u .

 

[twolfe]

Thanks to Precarious and Albert, I had the opportunity to photograph a couple of new first instar nymphs this week. I added a photo of a Purple Boxer Mantis (Ephestiasula pictipes) to the bottom of the first post and Hierodula bipapilla to the bottom of the second post.

The Purple Boxer is the smallest nymph I have ever seen. Because of the size and the way it poses, it made it extremely challenging to get any decent images. I took that photo about eight hours after they hatched. I will try again in a few days. I'm really looking forward to photographing this species as adults.

There isn't much information about this Hierodula species available on the Internet. The Hierodula is a decent sized nymph and easier to photograph because of that. However, it has very long legs, making it difficult to get both the head/eyes and the closest legs all in focus at the same time. And I ended up clipping off the tarsi in a couple of my best images.

 

[agent A]

Nice bipapila

 

[Mime454]

I don't see any photos.

 

[agent A]

First page mime

 

[twolfe]

Thanks to Adrienne for the opportunity to photograph another new species for me: Thesprotia graminis (American Grass Mantis).

The photo is the last image in the 2nd post of this thread.

Like most L1 nymphs, these guys like to explore when you take them out. But once this nymph settled down, it posed nicely for a while. This is a small nymph, but it's long and thin. The shorter antennae make it a little easier to photograph than some. However, it still has long legs, which make it challenging to get them all in focus. I did do a manual partial stack of the two legs in the foreground as the majority of the images I made this morning only had the raptor legs and two legs in the background in focus. (This is the only time I've done this on these L1 comparison images.)

I thought it would be more interesting to place this photo next to the African Grass Mantis. However, this one chose to hang upside down. (I let them decide how they want to pose...whether upright or hanging upside down.)

 

[agent A]

Cute OVERLOAD :tt1: :wub:

 

[twolfe]

Thanks to Andrew for the opportunity to photograph a first instar Popa Spurca nymph. (This image is the last image in the second post.)

It doesn't look much like a twig in the photo, but it briefly posed like adults do and then changed positions.

 

[Crazy4mantis]

wow, boxers look like little balls when they're L1!

those pics were adorable! :wub:

 

[aNisip]

Yeah Tammy, your photos do more justice than mine would! That nymph is sooo orange/red! All the ones I have right now are jet black...their eyes are like the same as p paradoxica (but thats about it) ....Awesome pictures Tammy! ^-^ glad I could help in this effort

 

[Mime454]

Yeah Tammy, your photos do more justice than mine would! That nymph is sooo orange/red! All the ones I have right now are jet black...their eyes are like the same as p paradoxica (but thats about it) ....Awesome pictures Tammy! ^-^ glad I could help in this effort

All of my L1's were jet black too. They didn't turn brown until L2.

 

[agent A]

Cute

If i give u credit, can i post your L1 images on instagram for reference?

 

[twolfe]

Yeah Tammy, your photos do more justice than mine would!

Andrew & Mime, when I look at my L1 nymphs, they and several other species appear black. But look at them in better light with a magnifying glass, and you'll see the brown tones when indoors. Now try taking the nymph outdoors with the sun behind you and look at that same nymph. It will absorb the light and will look brown. You can door this indoors with a flashlight, too. (Watch where you stand so that if your nymph takes a dive you don't end up with a lonely popa outdoors. )

I use a twin lite with flash diffusers on them. So, this is lighting up the nymph. To be sure that I didn't lighten it too much when processing, I did it over with no lightening, but it still appears about the same.

 

[CesarF]

Would be great see some Acanthops sp =D