New Mantid

[yeatzee]

Well i've got about 9 wild mantids caught in my back yard, all same species. I've been planning on purchasing some exotics but my sisters friend says she has a teacher who caught 4 praying mantids with black spots on their arms and big wings with black spots on them, and she'd be willing to give me them for free. Thats how she described them to me, and i haven't seen them, so i was wondering if anyone could help me with the possible species and what i need to keep them. thanks!

 

[acerbity]

Location, location, location.

 

[yeatzee]

I need to know the species asap. My guess is a european but i've never seen one in person. Do europeans have black spots on their wings?

 

[Vlodek]

Location, location, location ........

 

[yeatzee]

Southern Cali

 

[kamakiri]

I'm guessing not european because mine don't have wing spots.

Why not just take them? I would if you don't...

 

[yeatzee]

Im forsure taking them, I just wanted to know if this particular species has special needs or something.......

She said it looked kinda like this

 

[idolomantis]

maybe iris oratoria?

 

[yeatzee]

I'm not good with scientific names

 

[hibiscusmile]

How big is it? Iris is not as big as european, so size will help.

 

[yeatzee]

I haven't seen it before, i'll get it monday if all works out. She only said it was bigger than my brown Stagmomantis Californica which is around alittle over 3 inches.

 

[d0rk2dafullest]

whoa never realized there were more socal ppl interested in this hobby =P

srry off topic =P

 

[MantidLord]

did u get it?

 

[yeatzee]

Sadly no :'(

 

[necromantica]

dont the flower mantid have big black spots like eyes on their wings i know their not native and not legal in the us from what Ive heared but mabie they were released by someone and the teacher found them.

if it is youll love em their beautiful!

 

[idolomantis]

flower mantids not legal in the U.S.?!

I know plenty of american people with flower mantids

 

[joossa]

Sounds like it could be either the European Mantid (Mantis religiosa) or the Mediterranean Mantis (Iris oraratoria). Maybe the person got the description messed up. However, if I were to guess, I would go with Iris.

Mantis religiosa has black and white eye spots on the inside of the front legs. It has no eye spots on the wings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:NKN-200..._Wikipedia).jpg

Iris oratoria has purplish-black eye spots on both hind wings. This species does not have dark eye spots on the inside of the front legs like Mantis religiosa, but I have seen a couple of females with dark markings in that area. The females that displayed this were darker than the typical Iris oratoria. You can almost think of it like a morph. The black markings weren't necessarily as distinct as they are in Mantis religiosa as they were more of a black shade and had no define shape.

http://www.bugsincyberspace.com/mantids/ma...is_oratoria.jpg