Thread: Choeradodis rhombicollis

Hi


All,

I’ve been keeping and breeding the South American Choeradodis rhombicollis for a year and thought that it was high time that I put some pictures on the forum. These photographs are of a 6th instar nymph As this is the first time I have put pictures on here, I hope that it works!

Although I don’t quite have enough available yet, if you are interested in trying this species, I should have nymphs available towards the end of this year. They are slow to grow, presumably because they put most of their effort into developing the 4.5cm wide shield (for the female), hence why they are called shield mantis or leaf mantis

Cameron DK

stunning! I'd definitely be interested in a good number of nymphs if you have any spare at the end of the year

How have you found them to keep?

Very nice!
Don't they have any molting problems with that big shield?
Have you bred them before?

Thanks for the comments to date and I thought that I would answer the above questions in this one response;

These mantids are quite easy to keep although the mortality can be high in the newly hatched nymphs (up until 3rd instar), possibly due to humidity issues. I am working on this one but as this is the first time I have bred these, I am still learning. Once into 3rd instar, they are quite easy.

You would think that moulting would be difficult but I have not lost one nymph to having their shield caught up. The shield becomes very pliable and folds up to enable them to moult. I have had only one nymph that has had a slightly deformed shield. Moulting is only an issue for some of the very young nymphs but it doesn’t involve the shield.

I have attached an aerial view of a 7th instar female so you can see how prominent the shield is in comparison to the rest of the body. An adult female is 9cm long and 4.5cm wide!

This particular species came from a collection I made whilst I was in Ecuador last February and there is more detail of this in newsletter 3 (February 2011).

I hope I have answered all the questions. I am writing detailed notes and will be looking to put an article in a future newsletter that will examine both aspects of biology and culture so that if anyone wishes to try this species, there’ll be information readily available.

Cameron DK

Beautiful species. Good to hear they are not too difficult
Good luck!