FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

[17.08.14]

Bought two nymphs I sexed as a pair (hopefully I'm right) off Graham today at the Kempton Park Reptile Show.

Female
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr

Male
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr

[21.08.14]

Female moulted to '?' instar
Moulting interval: ??? (first time she moulted since I got her)

Moulting video

Moulting pics:
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr

Size and colour difference between the m&f
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr

Pics from after the moult
IMG_9211 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9235 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9246 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[22.08.14]

I messaged Graham yesterday asking if he could give me any background info on this species as he's the one who collected them. (I think...)
Anyway, he replied today saying that he might have an ID on this species and is just waiting for a UK mantis taxonomist (Martin. S) to confirm. He also sent me a few photos of the adult female and said the notable differences between this species and other two more common ones here in the UK (affinis and agrionina) is that it is much lager, the wings are longer and the underwings are somewhat different.

I have not asked him yet but I believe this is IGM 264 as the female in Graham's photo greatly resembles it... just like brancsikia said in this thread back in February.

The thread

The two photos of IGM 264 taken from the IGM list:
Parasphendale comp 264 vs 261 by darkrai283, on Flickr
Paraspehendale spec2 NEU by darkrai283, on Flickr

[26.08.14]

The male moulted today. (Whooop!!!) It's so funny how they stuggle to eat small prey because of their wide-arms... much like the pics I've seen of C. humeralis but obviously not as robust/wide as theirs.

Male moulted to 5th instar
Moulting interval: ??? (first time he moulted since I got him)

...and comparing my pair with photos of P. affinis and P. agrionina online, I believe my pair are at this stadium:
Female: 5th instar (Pre-pre-subadult)
Male: 5th instar (Pre-subadult)

Anyway, new pics:

Female
IMG_9343 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9335 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9341 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9337 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9373 by darkrai283, on Flickr

Male:
IMG_9424 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9384 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9420 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[07.09.14]

The female moulted today.

Female moulted to 6th instar
Moulting interval: 16 days

Current stadia of the two nymphs:
Female: 6th instar (Pre-subadult)
Male: 5th instar (Pre-subadult)

Moulting pics:
IMG_9767 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9774 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9778 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9779 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9784 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9788 by darkrai283, on Flickr

Female
IMG_9806 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9902 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9886 by darkrai283, on Flickr

Male
IMG_9818 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9832 by darkrai283, on Flickr

Size comparison
IMG_9802 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_9840 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[10.09.14]

The male moulted today.

Male moulted to 6th instar
Moulting interval: 16 days

Current stadium of the two nymphs:
Female: 6th instar (Pre-subadult)
Male: 6th instar (Subadult)

22.09.14

The female moulted today to subadult.
Totally unexpected... She wasn't even showing signs of moulting so I moved her into a smaller enclosure with inadequate netting so that I could clean her's out. 5 minutes later and she started moulting lol.

Female moulted to 7th instar
Moulting interval: 15 days

Current stadium of the two nymphs:
Female: 7th instar (Subadult)
Male: 6th instar (Subadult)

Moulting pics
IMG_0147 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0150 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0151 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0157 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0159 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0165 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[02.10.14]

The subadult male flared up properly for the first time at a P. paradoxa. He's due for his final moult soon as well as his wingbuds are plump.

Pics
Untitled by darkrai283, on Flickr

[04.10.14]

The male moulted to adult.

Male moulted to 7th instar
Moulting interval: 24 days

Current stadium of the two nymphs:
Female: 7th instar (Subadult)
Male: 7th instar (Adult)

Moulting pics
IMG_0587 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0589 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0595 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0600 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0602 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0607 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[09.10.14]

The male's full threat display.

Pics
IMG_0639 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0641 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0645 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0646 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[21.10.14]

Woke up this morning to find her on the floor... but she hadn't started moulting yet so I took out that smooth branch from the moulting enclosure and hung her up again.

When I got home, she had successfully moulted to adult while I was away (probably moulted a couple of hours before I got home) but I found her on the floor again which leads me to believe that she damaged some of her tarsi while subadult in some way... and her fall in pre-moult while I was asleep probably had some effect on her too. :/

Unfortunately, she is lethargic and she probably fell while trying to make 'the flip' so she had inflated her wings while on the floor of the enclosure meaning that they were crumpled and so messed up. I really hope she didn't sustain any internal injuries from the fall as her body would've been very soft.

She is a whopper considering that she's a Budwing species! 8cm from head to the subgenital plate... imagine how large she would be when gravid lol.

Pics
IMG_0952 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0954 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_0953 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[25.10.14]

She got very weak so I put her down in the freezer.

Luckily, I contacted Graham and he said that he has a fresh, adult female he can spare.

[29.10.14]

Received her in the post today; will take pics tomorrow.

[30.10.14]

She's a beaut.

Pics:
IMG_1180 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1220 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1201 by darkrai283, on Flickr

[11.11.14]

Some more pics of the adult male and female.

Male:
IMG_1348 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1351 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1347 by darkrai283, on Flickr

Female:
IMG_1368 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1358 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1354 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1363 by darkrai283, on Flickr
IMG_1359 by darkrai283, on Flickr

tiny and cute