What kind of Mantis is this?

[happy1892]

those carolina wings look like californica wings

They do not look like this californica's wings.http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac49/yen_saw2009/Stagmomantis%20californica/scali2.jpg

 

[lancaster1313]

Peachesofpeaches: Does your mantis have the black mark on the prothorax in between the forelegs?

All of the Stagmomantis carolina that I have seen have that mark.

Happy1892: The top wings, wing covers, outer wings can be called tegmina.

 

[agent A]

Huh, really. Those wings got more orangish yellow later. All of them seemed to have black wings recently molting to adult. Do you mean just the color?

the underwing color yes

 

[happy1892]

Happy1892: The top wings, wing covers, outer wings can be called tegmina.

Thanks. And are the underwings the ones under the tegmina?

 

[happy1892]

He said the dots are on the underwings, not the top. It's S. carolina.

MantidLord I see two on the tegmina, one on each one of those. I have not seen another. Did you get them mixed up? I have seen brown Stagmomantis limbata with two black spots in about the same place as the Carolina Mantids have theirs. But the wings shape seems to be always (maybe not, I do not know. Just all that I have seen in pictures) different from each other. I have heard that Stagmomantis carolina are the only ones with white around their black dots (of the Stagmomantis species but maybe they meant of the ones in America). Is that right? Do some Carolina Mantids not have that white?I found this picture of a Carolina Mantis (called that but I am not sure if it is). It's tegmina shape is different from a Stagmomantis carolina's. It looks more like a Stagmomantis limbata. Does anybody think it is a Stagmomantis limbata and not a Stagmomantis carolina?

http://en.wikipedia....s_dimidiata.jpg

The wing shape of that red one looks like this one that is (I guess) Stagmomantis limbata.

http://www.google.co...BA&ved=0CGwQ1Rc

Here are just a bunch of pictures of adult Stagmomantis carolina.

http://s1075.photobu...carolina/Adult/

Now I looked at them carefully (a dead gray adult female Stagmomantis carolina's tegmina and pictures of adult female Stagmomantis limbata's tegmina) and I am pretty sure the red mantis called a Carolina Mantis is not a Carolina Mantis and maybe a Stagmomantis limbata. Hmmm... now I am not that sure. Huh, it looks just like a Carolina's tegmina. Now red one is a Carolina Mantis now.

Mismolted Adult female Stagmomantis carolina.

http://s1075.photobu...nt=SAM_8317.jpg

 

[MandellaMandy123]

If you could show a picture of the underwings, that would be really helpful!

 

[MantidLord]

Didn't he say that there was a large dot on the underside of the wings? Not the tegmina. Unless I misread what he said, we shouldn't really be talking about tegmina (though interesting). You did bring up an interesting point though, the wing shape is definitely different between the two. I just arrived in Jersey and caught four adult female S. carolinas. Compared to the one female I have back in New York, the wing shape is definitely different.

Actually really the difference is also in the abdomen. Limbatas seem to have a more wider abdomen before going narrow at around the last two abdominal segments, where carolinas have a more oval shaped abdomen. You can see it in the pictures you posted. Determining between the two really isn't that difficult now that I look at it. So once again, I say that mantis pictured is a carolina. Now determining between carolina and californica may be a little bit harder (luckily there's the black stripes and wing color). Now identifying nymphs may be the real challenge, like always.

 

[happy1892]

Is there a spot on each of the underwings of a Carolina Mantis? If there is are they only on adult females? I will look for a picture. I have never seen a spot on the underwings of my adult female Carolina Mantids (I looked). I will just take a picture.

 

[happy1892]

I did not take a picture of the underwings of the other female I have.

The first Carolina Mantis I have seen!





Pictures I just took.

 

[happy1892]

Yep

Sorry, but I have to make sure. Wolfpuppy said if you meant the underwings and those are one of the two pairs of wings on the mantis. The underwings are under the top wings right? On the top pair of wings on the mantis there is one spot on each one of those two. Did you mean the top pair or the ones hidden under the two wings on top? I have not seen my Carolina Mantids have a spot on their underwings.