My first adult male Blepharopsis mendica

[twolfe]

On Sunday the first of my Blepharopsis mendica mantis molted to an adult. The first day he was still tan & white like he was as a subadult. I read that they can "take on a vibrant marbled green as adults." I saw one of Igor's photos of this species where the nymph was bright green, but he called it a "green morph." I recall seeing Joeho's photos, and his adults were a vibrant green.

I photographed him three days later (yesterday), and he is a little more green but nothing like photos I've seen.

 

[sporeworld]

Gorgeous!

 

[Precarious]

Awesome! Give it time. Idolos can take more than a week to get their colors. May be the same with these.

How big is he?

 

[twolfe]

Precarious, He is three inches long...bigger than I expected.

Joeho, if you read this, let me know if the female of this species requires an extra molt. I found a little information on this forum and on other places, but not much about the number of molts to adult. Only one site mentioned that, and I'd like to confirm it's correct. I've been feeding both sexes the same amount of food, but I do have two of my females directly under the light.

 

[Idolofreak]

Whether he turns green or not, he's really pretty already.

 

[patrickfraser]

pretty pretty....or should I say handsome?

 

[RevWillie]

Nice mantis and photos!

 

[myzticalboi]

Precarious, He is three inches long...bigger than I expected.

Joeho, if you read this, let me know if the female of this species requires an extra molt. I found a little information on this forum and on other places, but not much about the number of molts to adult. Only one site mentioned that, and I'd like to confirm it's correct. I've been feeding both sexes the same amount of food, but I do have two of my females directly under the light.

From what I remember, the males and females have about the same amount of molts to adults. The female should become an adult pretty soon after.

 

[ShieldMantid1997]

an awesome looking mantis regardless if he's green or not! :lol:

 

[hibiscusmile]

nice pic! males mature before girls, but live plenty long enough to mate, but usually get eaten

 

[meaganelise9]

Yours is much more tan than mine. I know you've since had more ooths. Are they the same color?

 

[minard734]

Nice! Try exposing them to lots of sunlight and green plants as nymphs. In some species, these things are important. Genetics play a part but I believe that sunlight and scenery are more important.

 

[twolfe]

Meaganelise9, has your male molted an an adult yet? All of my nymphs were tan until the final molt. I did have a plant in with some of them, and they did get some sunlight in the summer when they lived in the 3 season porch.

All three of my males eventually turned a bright green. It was strange. One that molted turned bright green the next day. Another took about a week, and the third took a month.

My b. Mendica have laid 8 ooths so far. I kept 5 of the ooths an am incubating them myself.

Here's one of my males that I photographed on September 9. They even got a little darker shade of green after this was taken. My females are even darker. I was in Colorado for 12 days at the end of September/beginning of October and then in North Dakota/South Dakota for 8 days at the end of October. I haven't had much time to photography my mantids lately.

 

[meaganelise9]

Ah, lovely. Mine hasn't gotten there quite yet- one more molt, but all is well so far. He's kind of green now, but up until lately, he's been very pale.

 

[agent A]

i want to keep these guys

they look awesome!!! i made a clay pot at school that looks like one

it has to be fired and glazed so it will be weeks before i can get a pic

 

[meaganelise9]

They DO look so awesome. I love 'em.

 

[yen_saw]

Great pic! They do get darker in color after few days. Get the macro lens ready the hatchling are really small but cute.