What have I done :(

[PIaf94]

A few hours ago I had come back walking from the gym at

Night to find these two mantises staring at each other on

my front door. A few weeks ago I witnessed the same thing

With a pair of stagmomantis Californica that I had caught

and ended up breeding. I naturally assumed the same here. A wandering

Female having attracted a male to mate. I carefully snatched the two up

and placed them in a small 5 gal hoping to capture the mating process again.

To my horror I had turned the light on to find out I had caught a large

Female stagmomantis Californica and a male Chinese mantis. Before I could react

She chased the male, grabbed him and had already tore off the face. Knowing

There was nothing I could do at that point I allowed the female to consume him

and planned on releasing her later. yes I felt bad I inadvertently caused the males doom

"Shall we dance"



Anyway I check back on the female and find the headless body

Has somehow found its way to the back of the female and started to mate

With her.( yes there is a connection) and has been going at it for a while now.



What should I do? As a tarantula breeder myself I do not support

Making hybrid animals and on top of that these are two very different species. It's just morally wrong to mess with the genes pools. At the same time it's sparking my curiosity?

Any thoughts? Long post I know

 

[Sticky]

She is not a chinese. Their wings go just beyond the end of her abdomen. I bet those two are the same kind. Keep her! She's a nice big lady, her babies should be too.

 

[PIaf94]

It's the male that's Chinese. I do keep them for a few weeks. Power feeding them until they are ready to lay ooths then that's when I release her so I can see more next year

 

[Domanating]

The resulting eggs will most likely become sterile. As much as would love to see hybrids, it can't happen.

 

[Paradoxica]

It sounds like that outcome was going to happen with or without your intervention. At least the native the species was the one eating the "Naturalized" species and not the other way around. As for the eggs, there's no way they could interbreed, but there's a good chance she's already been fertilized (by her own kind) in the wild.

 

[Rick]

It's the male that's Chinese. I do keep them for a few weeks. Power feeding them until they are ready to lay ooths then that's when I release her so I can see more next year

That isn't a Chinese mantis. A Chinese male is much to large to mate with a female Stagmomantis.

 

[mantiseater]

that is not a chinese mantis

 

[Mantis Man13]

That is not a Chinese mantis male, they are much bigger. Look at this picture of a Californica male mantise's wings and abdomen. The wings look just like the mantis in your picture it has a green stripe on it that looks like a chinese mantise's wings but it is not a Chinese mantis, the size of the male is 2 inches, and the abdomen is yellow like your picture. As you can see, this is a male of the same species. http://bugguide.net/node/view/457986/bgimage

 

[cdcrocks]

I agree with the three posts above me- I have both adult male Chinese and female Carolinas right now, and the Chinese males are much too large to view the Carolinas as anything more than a snack, they're at least twice the length. I believe both of the mantises here are Carolinas, you should definitley keep her around till you get an ooth! Release her if you'd like though, they're a great species to have, in captivity or in the wild.

 

[Mantis Man13]

Cdrocks, these mantises are definitely not Carolinas. The female has too long of wings and the male is of a different color than a Carolina. These are Stagomantis californica.

 

[cdcrocks]

Whoops, looks like I misread. My mistake.
But though the wings are a little long, that color's unheard of, they come in all shades.
But Plaf94 did say californica in the first post, so that's probably what it is.

 

[dmina]

Any updates? Did you get an ooth yet?