Metallyticus violaceus hatch

[Precarious]

They look very strong, probably the largest proportion of leg-size to body-weight out of all the species of mantid that I have seen.

Those legs are built that way so the can book! These little things are FAST. You can see that immediately after hatching they move in sudden bursts. A few took off during filming and it was a nightmare to get them in the cup. Not only because of their speed but because they lay so flat to the ground. You can't pick them up like a normal mantid. They won't climb on board if you put your finger just above their head. You have to maneuver something flat, like a piece of paper, in front of them while they're moving and hope they don't jump off as you move it to the cup.

lovely, just lovely, I wish you could take some pictures of a milkweed flower, I think it would be wonderful.

Hmmm... I'll see what I can do.

Any idea where these species are native to? I live in southern California and I can almost swear that I saw one of these the other day. Like you said, built more like a roach than a mantis, but now that I've seen these I'm second guessing my initial distinction upon seeing it...

They're native to Thailand. If you saw a mantis with a similar build it was likely one of the bark mantid species native to North America.

 

[Mime454]

How many hatched? Do they seem hardy so far?

 

[Precarious]

How many hatched? Do they seem hardy so far?

Looks like 20 or 21. No deaths so far.

 

[Mime454]

Awesome.

 

[agent A]

are they eating mels or hydei??

 

[Precarious]

are they eating mels or hydei??

Considering they are only slightly bigger than hydei I wouldn't even bother trying. I haven't directly witnessed them eating but I have mels and spring tails in there.

 

[agent A]

Considering they are only slightly bigger than hydei I wouldn't even bother trying. I haven't directly witnessed them eating but I have mels and spring tails in there.

wow I thought they were bigger due to the pics of them on your finger

unless you have a tiny finger...

 

[Precarious]

wow I thought they were bigger due to the pics of them on your finger

unless you have a tiny finger...

I'm only 3'2" but my hands are normal size. My feet are double normal size and I take a size XXL hat due to Hydrocephalus.

Ok, not really...

Do I need to take a pic of a hydei on my finger for comparison? Good, cause I have better things to do.

I think you need to take another look at that pic. Nymphs is only like 1/8 the length of the tip of my finger. It's maybe 1.5 the length of a hydei, but then again, I have large hydei so maybe you're thinking of the smaller ones.

 

[agent A]

oh I see now

thank you for the clarification

 

[hibiscusmile]

I am going with the 3' picture in my head! :shifty: I think the pic is great and that baby must really be tiny if smaller than hydei.

 

[Precarious]

L2 now. Finally caught one eating a melanogaster...

 

[aNisip]

Nice stuff Henry, the second photo of the metal eating he is like, "I'm slowly putting the mel down...just don't take another pic! :0 "

:lol:

 

[MantidLord]

That's awesome. I don't think I've ever seen a pic of them eating.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

Creepy looking!

 

[Precarious]

That's awesome. I don't think I've ever seen a pic of them eating.

Eventually I'll get video.

 

[agent A]

cool!!! they are kinda cute!

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

How are they doing so far?

 

[brancsikia339]

Incredible!!! :clap: :clap: :clap:

Congratz on the hatch!!

 

[Precarious]

How are they doing so far?

So far so good. Very few losses. Nothing too exciting to report.

 

[Lou]

Any updates on how these guys turned out?