Nymph terminology

[avn]

I have heard people referring to newly hatched nymphs as both L1 and L2 on this forum and elsewhere and I want to settle it once and for all.

a mantis hatches, emerges from the ooth and immediately molts. It changes from a lil worm guy to a mini-mantis. 

Then it starts walking around and inspecting the world and its about as big as a staple. 

Is this creature L1 or L2?

 

[mantisman 230]

l1 is a hatchling the emergence from the ooth is not exactly a "molt" so to speak. Merely removing the egg casing which compacts it for space. Once a hatchling has done an actual molt, it is l2

 

[CosbyArt]

Indeed it is a L1, or 1st instar, nymph when it hatches. L2 is after their first molt and shed a exuviae (their old skin/exoskeleton).

Often people list them in the classifieds at L1 stage but will ship when they reach L2 (as they are much stronger and he weaker ones have died already). Also some will list it that way as many of the nymphs have molted to L2, with the rest still at L1 - as the nymphs from a whole ooth tend to take a few days. Then you have some others who are likely confused themselves and just tag it as L1/L2 as they are not sure what instar the nymphs are at, which happens as the smaller nymphs leave tiny exuviae which is hard to see and find.

 

[Rick]

L1. 

They don't change from wormiform body to a mantis type body, they emerge enclosed in a clear sheeth. 

 

[avn]

Thanks for clearing this up. 

I thought they were L1, but someone on Reddit corrected me to l2 after hatching... Sigh

https://www.reddit.com/r/mantids/comments/4fdq25/free_baby_mantises_in_the_bay_area/

 

[CosbyArt]

Thanks for clearing this up. 

I thought they were L1, but someone on Reddit corrected me to l2 after hatching... Sigh

https://www.reddit.com/r/mantids/comments/4fdq25/free_baby_mantises_in_the_bay_area/

Best to just move on, as people get set in their terminology after they have been doing it for awhile (right or wrong).

I've did some searching to clarify the terminology of L1 vs L2, but couldn't find a single source that claimed a freshly hatched nymph as L2. Perhaps some scientific articles allude to such a comment; however, I haven't seen that yet either. The only thing I have read in books is that they technically molt to hatch, and in doing so are a L1 as they molted from their ooth (their first, ie L1 molt, but the first to leave a exuviae is a L2).

Here are many various articles online that says L1 is a newly hatched nymph (before molting the first time, making it a L2) you can find many more with this Google search, here are some from the first page...

• BugsinCyberspace (Peter's site, our root admin)
  
• mantispets.com
  
• exoticpetsresources.com
  
• pets.stackexchange.com
  
• wikipedia.org
  

 

[Ranitomeya]

The larva-like state we see in newly hatched mantises is considered a protonymph. Many hemimetabolous insects, insects that have nymphs instead of larvae and pupae, have this brief stage after hatching out of their eggs. It is not until they molt out of their protonymph exoskeleton and become able to move around on their legs instead of moving around like larvae that they are considered nymphs and are considered first instars. The egg itself cannot move out of the ootheca and the nymph would deform itself attempting to squeeze its way out of the ootheca while its exoskeleton is hardening, so the protonymph stage after hatching out of the egg is a short-lived, but important stage of development.

 

[CosbyArt]

The larva-like state we see in newly hatched mantises is considered a protonymph. Many hemimetabolous insects, insects that have nymphs instead of larvae and pupae, have this brief stage after hatching out of their eggs. It is not until they molt out of their protonymph exoskeleton and become able to move around on their legs instead of moving around like larvae that they are considered nymphs and are considered first instars. The egg itself cannot move out of the ootheca and the nymph would deform itself attempting to squeeze its way out of the ootheca while its exoskeleton is hardening, so the protonymph stage after hatching out of the egg is a short-lived, but important stage of development.

Thanks for the write-up it is very informative, and great to know.

 

[rbird]

This could be a sticky?