Tenodera sinensis

[Chelsea]

So my nmphs are mostly L5 now, some already L6 and 1 L4. The L6 have wing buds. BUT some of them it is hard to count segments. Are genders of this species different in the wings somehow?

Also what exactly does it mean for females to call? Do they make a sound?

 

[PookaDotted]

I am a newbie myself, but most questions can be answered by using the search tool. Thats how I found out what calling is. basically they wave their bums up and down. haha

 

[happy1892]

Calling is when the females release pheromones. You should not be having much problems if you are sexing T. sinensis L5 to adult. I noticed recently that younger T. sinensis females (Maybe L4 or L5?) are slightly hard to tell between a male on the underside of the abdomen because in the last segment there is an opening that looks like it might have a small segment, but still easy as pie for me. The wings are different between males and females, and I think females have wider wings, but those are subtle differences compared to the abdomen tip of females and males.

Take a look at these photos.

Female Chinese Mantis.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/710583/bgimage

Same as H. membranacea the males abdomen tip is flat on the bottom but females are not.

http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=7110