@CEC having looked again if the spot method is reliable, I'll hold off and make my decision from molts from this point onwards. Better to be 100% in these cases. I'm still awaiting a moult from my 3" P. met, but if the spot method is reliable then it's male (mines and this one). I'm just unsure how reliable the spot method is!
@mconnachan it is usually reliable... But morely in this case, an ornata of this size, if female, would show obvious lips... As mentioned before, no need to vent or molt sex an ornata of this size. The carapace is a dead giveaway.
P. metallica male & female ventral parts look very similar. That's a much harder species to vent sex. The dot method works well for that particular species, though.
@CEC Thanks for clarifying that, so my P. met may be a female after all, I'm just going to wait until its next molt, that way I'll be 100% certain. I'm obviously hoping for female, the abdomen ATM is very light coloured, compared to the blue under her/his legs, the blue there is so vibrant almost iridescent - optimistic as always, for a femme fatale! I'll try to get a link to you, see what you think - yeah.
@mconnachan I believe that's male but still check the molt. Like I said, metallica ventral sexing is tricky, especially only one pic of a specimen at that size. It's much easier to vent sex in person.
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