Pseudovates arizonae ( arizona unicorn mantis )

i can't believe that such a rare and beautiful mantis is native to the US. has anyone had any luck finding some yet? my dad goes painting in the mountains of AZ a few times a year, maybe i'll go with him next time.





this is a painting my dad did of the mountains in tucson, AZ. looks like Pseudovates arizonae habitat to me.

I agree, a lovely species that would be great to have back in culture. The last person I knew with them was Orin, but I think his stocks slowly died out? I have also heard they are just as hard to find in the wild, as they are in captivity.

they look very similar to the cryptic mantises, dont they

Yea, very much so...except without the mottled markings.

Yeah, I have a friend that lives in AZ. He says if he's lucky he'll see at least one every year

ian, do you know if he collected them from the wild or if he bought them from someone?

yosei, how come you don't ask your friend to send them to you when he sees them?

I am not entirely sure Wuwu. I presume they derived from captive bred stock...although maybe a few wild caughts were introduced at some point to strengthen blood lines.

I have thought about going to AZ and taking the chance of looking for them. It would only mean a few hours drive. The only hard part is finding them since that desert is so vast and everything eats insects there. They are like the main food source.

if you decide to go, they are found here in AZ:

Pinal Co.; Pima Co.; Sta. Catalina Mts.; Sabino Canyon; Rincon Mts.; Baboquivari Mts.; Sta. Cruz Co.; Sta. Rita Mts.; Cochise Co.; Huachuca Mts.; Dragoon Mts.; Chiricahua Mts.

HEllo All,

P arizonae is a wonderfull amntis too keep, they grow quite slow.

I had the chance of rearing a few nymphs to adulthood and get male and females at the same time. I was able to mate them and the females laid only a total of 3 ooth of which none of them hatched out.

I definatelly did something wrong but I hope I can get a second chance at them.

In the wild they are very dificult to find for some people and there are a few who find them every year.

I wonder if Orin will have some available soon????

They come to lights sometimes, to feed on the small insects, a friend found one at a tennis court , in Sedona. I think that is too North for them but he did send me a picture. So you never know when you will spot one.

regards

FT

i love their heads! the eyes shape and thei colour, and the ace head crest.

actually, why do they have the hat looking things on their heads? i saw on a diagram that someone labeled that a simple eye was on the end of it but i dunno.

i see that orchids middle eye is a small green triangular eye, it's kind of built up a bit...

anyone know why they have head crests really long sometimes?

where are they originally from?

they're slightly conspicuous with their dramatic colour difference on their wings, you'd think they'd be easier to find

Finding more than one every few years is a feat few people have ever done and I've never heard of anyone finding more than three in a year(and those were little ones in November). Getting them to hatch out and grow to adult is very easy but getting a good mating and ootheca production is close to impossible. I've only raised them twice.

I will just have to out there back packing for a week with some lights and car batteries. Maybe do some survival training at the same time. SHould be fun and I might find some other insects that are interest. Definatly some scorpions.

coloration may look conspicuous and dramatic, but it looks pretty camouflaged to me. wings look like leaves and the rest of the body branches. the long horn on the head looks like part of the branchy camouflage, but i'm not 100% sure the horn does look peculiar...i mean, it looks like 2 smooth fingers.

Now that I think about it that horn might have something to do with letting off its body heat.

that's a good theory. maybe when you catch some on your backpacking trip, you can prove it.

Now that I think about it that horn might have something to do with letting off its body heat.

Click to expand...

doubt this cuz some other mantids that live in much hotter conditions show that it's much easier for a mantis to evolve to handle and thrive in whatever hot temperature rather than to evolve methods to thwart off heat.

Now that I think about it that horn might have something to do with letting off its body heat.

Click to expand...

Insects are cold blooded and don't produce body heat.

Now that I think about it that horn might have something to do with letting off its body heat.

Click to expand...

Insects are cold blooded and don't produce body heat.

Click to expand...

i don't think the problem is the heat created within, but rather the heat absorbed from the outside. in ridiculous hot deserts, some beetles i think try to minimize their contact with the sand by standing tip-toe in a certain way. that's how hot the sand is, and that's how overly hot the environment is in that desert. however, arizona is nowhere close to that hot. in that desert, it would be possible for even a cold-blooded creature to have difficulty evolving its body to comfortably thrive on this temperature.

edit: also, cold-blooded doesn't refer to whether an animal creates heat...it only refers to if an animal has the ability to regulate its body temperature.