H. coronatus, sex plz!

Alice

Arachnoangel
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Sep 29, 2006
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976
hi all,

i got a h. coronatus 3 months ago, bought it as a female. last night it molted into an adult, and i think it's a male :(

i haven't had many mantids yet, so maybe i'm wrong, but the wings are a good deal longer than the abdomen - so does that indicate a male with this species?

sorry for the pic quality, but i wanted to give it enough time to harden up, so it's taken through the glas. it's about 3" from eyes to wingtips now.

thnx for your comments!
 
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Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
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Oct 22, 2006
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2,301
Can you get a shot of the underside? In my experience with North American mantids, the males have much thinner and "straighter" abdomens, like this ||, whereas the females have more ()-shaped abdomens.

Or if you could get a dorsal shot of the terminal abdominal segment (probably not easy with the wings, though). Males have what looks like a tiny pair of cerci between the regular cerci, and females have a small slit-like opening parallel to and between the cerci.
 

Alice

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
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Sep 29, 2006
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976
yes, i think i can ;)

at least i'll try when i get home after work. i'll put her in a bigger tank then and take some more and hopeully better pics. 48 hours should suffice for her to dry out as the have a very thin exoskelleton, am i right?

maybe it's a she after all, as it certainly has an abdomen shaped like this: () and not a straigh one.
 

Alice

Arachnoangel
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Sep 29, 2006
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i googled a bit and spoke to an expert and it's a female! appaently, th males get a brown body as adults and are much smaller than mine is. {D

i'll still get a better pic tonight.
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
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Oct 22, 2006
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Good to hear! I saw pictures of orchid mantis mating once, and the male was ridiculously smaller than the female.
 

CopperInMyVeins

Arachnolord
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Mar 28, 2006
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638
Don't need any shots of the underside for this one, obviously a female, my adult male was probably about 1 and a quarter inches including wings, and the build is much different. I male of this species won't get anywhere near 3 inches and also mature a lot faster. Congrats on the female.
 
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