Pseudovates chlorophea (Blanchard, 1833) – Texas Unicorn Mantis

Introduction

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Pseudovates chlorophea are one of the most striking species. Their namesake is easy to understand, they have a large horn at the top of their forehead. Further, they have oddly bent legs, truly lending them a stick like appearance. As juveniles they are almost all brown, or tan, with some black, gray, and maroon highlights. As adults however, they adorn green wings with pink and maroon highlights inside, giving them a beautiful threat display.

This species is found in subtropical and tropical savannah and mixed forest habitats, where they are able to blend into tangles of shrubs and bushes with their unique appearance. Despite their relatively spindly legs, they are quite strong, and are able to capture prey much larger than one might expect.

The unique appearance of this species combined with their generally easy to care for and easy going nature makes them a fantastic species for a keeper looking for a bit of a challenge.

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Sexing

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As with all mantises, males have 8 external sternites, and females have 6. Males and females both have 8 molts.

Keeping

 

P. chlorophea  can be housed communally when young but become more aggressive around 6th instar and should be separated into same sex communals or individually.

 

Recommended space is as follows:

 

Instar 1 – 4  16 oz Deli Cup

Instar 5 – Adult 32 oz Deli Cup

 

Using the metric above, an appropriate amount of space should be provided for communal setups to minimalize cannibalism.

 

Feeding

 

Instar 1 - 4 – Drosophila species

Instar 5 – Adult – Houseflies, Blue bottle flies, Small Crickets, Roaches

 

Breeding

 

Pseudovates are somewhat difficult to mate. This species does enjoy some warmer temperatures, and typically will not mate if the temperature falls below 75. As a result, it is recommended to have a basking lamp for this species when trying to mate. Once the female is 4 weeks adult and males are 3 weeks, mating is possible. Males are skittish, and should be introduced to the enclosure before the female. Make sure food is present with the pair once the female is introduced, and that she is well fed. Once connected, they will mate for 3 – 5 hours.

 

After mating the female will lay anywhere from 6 - 10 oothecae over her lifetime around every 3 - 4 weeks. After 4 – 6 weeks incubation at room temperature, around 20 – 40  nymphs will hatch per oothecae. At this stage they can eat Drosophila melanogaster.