More sexing - 2 for the price of one!

I have a new (just moulted) L4 S. aurea called Francis and L3 C. humeralis called Mark and I'm trying to figure out if they're male or female - as shown below, I can see 7 abdominal segments on each which isn't entirely helpful, so I must be doing something wrong!



The imgur link with the original pictures is here: https://imgur.com/a/WIGyfwX

Thank you!

Im pretty sure 5-6 segments means female, and 7-8 means male. Normally its either 6 or 8. But it can fluctuate.

Both appear to be males. The first picture where you have number one is actually number two so you have at least eight segments there the second one is also a male.

First is male, second could be female, but I need a better picture without writing on it.

- MantisGirl13

MantisMart said:

Im pretty sure 5-6 segments means female, and 7-8 means male. Normally its either 6 or 8. But it can fluctuate.

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hibiscusmile said:

Both appear to be males. The first picture where you have number one is actually number two so you have at least eight segments there the second one is also a male.

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MantisGirl13 said:

First is male, second could be female, but I need a better picture without writing on it.

- MantisGirl13

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Thanks for the responses all!  Here's the unedited pic @MantisGirl13:

Definitely a male, but I need another pic of the other one.

- MantisGirl13 

MantisGirl13 said:

Definitely a male, but I need another pic of the other one.

- MantisGirl13 

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Hiya @MantisGirl13! Apologies for the late response, for some reason I didn't get the notification for this. I took a load of photos this morning - I hope this is okay, because I'm away for the next few days!

Actually... females can have 6-7 segments and males always have 8. I can confirm this because I have read this on numerous websites and have proven it firsthand when I saw a female with 7 segments and it was a female because it had the female genitals and not male.

Again, the pics don't clearly show the abdomen, but I'm almost positive it's a female. 

I don't sex mantiss by counting segments, I just look at the final one or two segments to determine.

- MantisGirl13 

MantisGirl13 said:

Again, the pics don't clearly show the abdomen, but I'm almost positive it's a female. 

I don't sex mantiss by counting segments, I just look at the final one or two segments to determine.

- MantisGirl13 

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Ach my apologies, I took them as I was (quite literally) running out the door! How do the final segments differ between the sexes?

nzxmUyZNKEBoqN3e said:

Ach my apologies, I took them as I was (quite literally) running out the door! How do the final segments differ between the sexes?

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In a female, the last segment will be wide and pointed. In a male, there will be two, short segments and the last one has a rounded tip.

- MantisGirl13