L5 Chinese females

[Ricardo]

Here are two L5 female Chinese , both from the same batch.

Simply loving this species. Best I've raised thus far!

Anyways check em out

Enjoying a snack in the summer sun. Love taking these nymphs out!

Isn't she cute?

 

[angelofdeathzz]

Nice, just don't take them out once there adult or fly away they will.

 

[guapoalto049]

What a bunch of babes!

 

[Ricardo]

I agree And will the females fly away?

 

[blind_angel16]

@Ricardo:

I don't know very much about Chinese mantids in general, but my female Chinese, Niki, has flown quite a few times when out of her cage. She even flew onto my sister! :lol: I'm wondering though... do female Chinese mantids fly more often than males?

Edit: By the way, these are great pictures. I hope I can take as good of pictures of Niki as you do of your Chinese mantids.

 

[MantidLord]

Hi. Generally males fly far more often than females (especially in the wild when looking for a mate at night). Although females will sometimes fly (my 3 never did), once they become gravid or just fat from food, they become too heavy to fly.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yep. Males need to be able to fly in order to find signalling females. Have females lost much of their ability to fly because they are too large to do so (then why not develop more powerful, larger wings? Large female beetles like cockchafers can fly), or has their flight ability diminished (females' wings are often much smaller that those of males) because they doesn't need to fly if the males come to their pheromones, and larger size means a greater capacity for oogenesis?

It would be interesting to know if a female in the wild starts to settle and signal only when she has found a location with a good food supply. If she were to fly in search of a mate, she might end up in a location where the food was very scarce and insufficient for egg development.

This would make a good high school science project. You could set up cages with plenty of food and with little or none, look for visual signals of signalling by each female and count the number of males that visit her during the night (you could use a funnel trap if you didn't want to sit up half the night). Just remember to mention my name on your display board!

 

[Ricardo]

Though Phil I appreciate your sentiments and admire your project idea, this sort of thing wouldn't be in the curriculum

And they are currently both adult. My male is extremely docile and many of you may be against this but I always take him out so he can enjoy the sun. Hasn't flown away once.