A few years ago Acromantis formosana was a well spread praying mantis, nowadays this position seems to be taken by Acromantis japonica.
When it comes to looks, these two species don’t seem to differ that much. It is their origin that might be the biggest difference. Acromantis japonica is (obviously) from Japan, but also from China, Korea and Taiwan. Acromantis formosana is (according to the literature) solely from Taiwan, the country formerly called Formosa.
My last A. formosana died in 2015. In July 2017 I was send A. japonica nymphs by a fellow mantis lover. Unfortunately I had a lot of losses in the first weeks, but in the end I had a nice breeding group of 2 adult males and 2 adult females.
One male and a female died rather quick. The male that was left did spend a lot of hours with the females, and on a few occasions he jumped on their backs to take a ride. He did seem to connect, but I haven’t seen a confirmed connection. I couldn’t watch all attempts to the end, so sometimes I left him alone with a female for a night or two.
He died last week. The near future will tell if he succeeded in connecting with the females. The first ooth after a potential mating was laid on 26th November, and usually it took about a month for an Acromantis formosana ooth to hatch. In the nights after visiting a lady the male always was very hungry, and when one of the females laid her second ooth (17th December) he was a very attentively watcher. Good signs, maybe?
Click here to read the dutch version of this breeding diary.
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