Ooth

[Morpheus uk]

Just dont get this ooth! whats what and how do they hatch?

http://ttwebbase.dyndns.org/mantid/view/24.html

 

[macro junkie]

u do realize its not an ooth its a xmas decoration u hang from a xmas tree..lol.man that thing looks weird?

 

[idolomantis]

wow i,ve never seen something like that before :blink:

 

[Ian]

It almost looks like some kind of explosive, with a fuse on the end.

Someone on the forum had one of these a while back, I remember seeing photos them.

 

[Rick]

Interesting.

 

[Christian]

Liturgusa are S-American bark dwellers. The ooths are oval or round and possess an air layer between the outer wall and the eggs themselves, which are concentrated in the middle of the ooth. The ooth has a tube on its posterior end. The young hatch through that tube. On the photos you can see the shed skins of the praelarvae protruding from the tube.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Looks to me like a Roman soilders helmet! Ready for battle I say!

 

[tier]

Hi

Some ooth of Hoplopcorypha I found in the net look the same.

regards,

tier

 

[Christian]

Not exactly. Some Hoplo species have also ooths with an isolating air layer, but the larvae hatch along a ridge on the dorsal side, not through a tube. Liturgusa has really one of the coolest ooths I ever seen. I would like to start a new breeding attempt, now that we have firebrats. This genus feeds on ants in nature.

 

[yen_saw]

Yes and the Liturgusa ooth is smaller than the Hoplopcorypha ooth and pretty solid too. THere is a "seam" for Hoplopcorypha ooth where it hatches but no "seam" whatsoever on the Liturgusa ooth. Oothecae of both species look pretty odd to me, but the Liturgusa ooth has the strangest hatching way. Unfortunately, both oothecae species traded never hatched for me.

Hoplopcorypha ooth from Africa

i]Liturgusa ooth traded from Peru

 

[Christian]

There are two types of Liturgusa ooths. The one showed on TerraTypica and that on your photo. The latter ones are comparatively hard and the tube shows backwards. The first one is larger (up to 2,5 cm diameter, but usually about 1,5 cm) with the outer layer being very thin, deforming quite easily.