Pyllocrania Paradoxa

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Hellooo again, some ghost pics as if there weren't enough on this forum already

I only got these at L3 so I totally missed the little ninja sleek smooth L1 and L2.

I had a pair but the other one died at the weekend, just found him dead on his back with legs in the air. I can only guess it was not enough humidity as I sprayed them all soon after and they pretty much all had a drink, even the chinese which I read don't really do it much.

It's now a spraying regime and I have learned the hard way.

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

RIP little dude.

 

[Ricardo]

Sorry for the loss that's a beaut!

 

[myzticalboi]

Great pictures! Even crazier looking when they get to adults. B)

 

[Precarious]

WOw! Some really nice shots there.

 

[warpdrive]

yep, great shots. next year's calander is gona be awesome.

Harry

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Thanks guys, this one is still alive Ricardo. The one that died I did get a couple of shots of and will post a couple in honour. And I visited a friend's secret garden today with this mantis and one of my Chinese and got a couple of really nice shots. Found a way to keep even them in one place, just need to delete the hoards of crappy shots to find them first tho.

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

A few more L3 pics

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Some more from L4 when I wanted to confirm his sex, I'm new to this but pretty sure this is a dude. Loving the way more detail is revealed with each molt. There's a few stacks of 2 frames in there but I didn't keep track.

 

[kamakiri]

Looks like a boy to me...great portraiture!

The males have a narrow head dinga.

 

[warpdrive]

That is clearly a boy. A nice one at that.

Harry

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Cheers guys, always nice to get a second opinion.

Some L5 pics of my lazy ghostie, all single frames apart from the butt shot

 

[myzticalboi]

U sure do know how to take pictures of a mantis from head to claw. Awesome pictures!

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Cheers Joeho, they are captivating insects. I don't think I will be satisfied until I can get a camera on a microscope but I love taking hand held shots of live specimens.

Some more of my only lonely Ghost male L5

 

[Slinkytreekreeper]

Some more focus stacking as I just can't leave it alone

Added the top of the crown to the portrait shot above. I kinda like it but does it look natural? The plane of focus does go along that diagonal but his crown would have to be lots more bent to actually be in focus like this.

2 frames

2 frames

3 frames

My first attempt at a panorama focus stack. Not at all easy and probably not worth the effort with hand held shots and live mantids - 4 frames in total.

As always, opinions/comments appreciated.