Paratoxodera cornicollis pics

Found some pics of this cool looking mantis species.... yeah they look like Martian!!

yeah these are AWESOME! i'm still amazed everytime i see them. i think Ian posted the same photos up before and then the post turned into an ugly argument and was eventually deleted.

Yeah, I hope this thread doesn't turn into evil thread vr2. Pretty sexy mantis though eh?

Hah, I know that this sparked some contraversy in the other thread, but I would love to raise some of those...maybe in a few years I'll start looking around for some.

ID help:

This is a larva of Toxodera denticulata.

Regards,

Christian

I have been looking for a breeder of this species for a while now, i have come across a limited few who have been more than unwilling to part with them. Its a really nice species one whilch i am willing to admire from a distance

Regards Lee

Thanks for the correct identification Christian.

In my opinion if anyone were actuly raising them then they would be available, most probably people are lying to make them look good or had them in the past but died quickly. Seeing as the other thread was deleted then i'll say something about them. Apparently they don't adopt well to captivity and scare easily, although that's most likely because they were wild cought.. I'm sure they need specific conditions, more than we first thought hence why they are rare and die quickly. Like it said on the other thread.. I don't see this mantis coming into captivity, more of a look but don't touch mantis and that they should stay in the forests.

What sorta size are we talking here? Because its slender it looks 20cm+ although i know that wont be the case.

Hi.

Toxodera denticulata may reach 15,5 cm, Paratoxodera cornicollis 16 cm.

Regards,

Christian

I've never seen any adult pictures of these I think. But do the adults have big wings covering the abdomen or is it a little pair of budwings as adult? Just wondering because if they have long wings then these pictures are possibly of ones that died and didn't make it to adult hood, there fore proving that they do bad in captivity.

Cheers, Cameron.

p.p. this is much more of a guess/idea than a perfect and accurate conclusion to whether they are particularily hard to keep or not.

Hi.

Use the picture search form in Google for "Toxodera". There you will find some pics of adults. The IDs are not always right, but there are several species shown.

yeah, I stumbled across these pix as well Yen, aren't they superb!

What a fantastic species.

Cheers,

Ian