Male and female?

[River Dane]

Okay, so I'm pretty sure I have a male and female, but, as I always do, I keep changing my mind and I'm now uncertain. I know I have at least one female, but I don't know if my male is a male... here're some pics.

It's a little blurry, but the larger one (left) is the female. The smaller one (right) is the unknown.

 

[Velve]

Starting at L4, D. desiccata can be pretty easily distinguished by the shape of their pronotum.



Left is a female, right is male. Females form kind of a M-shape, which seems to show in your pictures as well, especially the 4th.

 

[River Dane]

@Velve Hmm... I was really hoping to breed these guys... 

well, at least now I can breed two pairs!   I just need to find someone selling males, now.

I'm confused by the size difference, though. The larger female is L4, and the smaller one seems to be the same. I got the smaller one at a bug fair, and she molted twice since then. Why is she so tiny?

 

[Velve]

@Velve I'm confused by the size difference, though. The larger female is L4, and the smaller one seems to be the same. I got the smaller one at a bug fair, and she molted twice since then. Why is she so tiny?

I can't really tell from the picture, it just looks like you're holding the left one closer to the camera. Mantids do grow a bit between the molts too, so if it is some time ahead of the second one that could be the reason for the size difference.

 

[River Dane]

@Velve okay. Thanks!