ID Please

[joetbs]

Origin is tropical West Africa (Atlantic side) - Gulf of Guniea/Sao Tome & Principe area.

This guy is tiny, so sorry for the poor pics. Color is pretty accurate.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/mini-mantis.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/mini-mantis1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/mini-mantis2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/mini-mantis3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/mini-mantis4.jpg

[justinl]

Chorisquilla hystrix? This is a very very unusual find.

[TrappedMetal]

WOW.

[TrappedMetal]

Oh btw, i vote Chorisquilla tweedei...or Chorisquilla spinosissima.

[justinl]

see, I thought C. tweediei at first too due to the bar across the carapace, but take a close look a the telson in pic 1. That is not C. tweediei's telson. looks more like the bilobed telson on C. hystrix. the eyes don't say hystrix though, so I dunno. Unless you're looking at some other characteristic Im not seeing. I don't have pics of C. spinosissima to compare with.

tweediei:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/images/c_tweediei1.jpg

hystrix:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/images/c_hystrix4.jpg

[Timmy]

Nice find.
It can be a Chorisquilla trigibbosa, but im not really sure. The telson looks different. I think Roy can help you with the correct Id.

I don't have pics of C. spinosissima to compare with.
http://www.fangschreckenkrebse.de/images/chorisquillatelson2.jpg
http://www.fangschreckenkrebse.de/images/chorisquillasp3.jpg
But its not confirmed that this animal is a C. spinosissima, because it has a midline dorsal carina with is not supposed to be there.

[TrappedMetal]

After looking at the holy grail, i think its Chorisquilla quinquelobata. the telson is exact.

[joetbs]

Note the origin guys. The Chorisquilla are all from Indian/Pacific oceans. This is from the Atlantic.

Thanks for the suggestions though. Perhaps Dr. Roy can chime in.

[Gonodactylus]

This one was easy given the location. It is Protosquilla folini. Maximum size is 26 mm. We know little of its biology except that it occurs from the Cape Verde Is, Senegal and the Congo. To be honest, I have never seen a live Protosquilla, although this species is fairly common in European museum collections. Tje other genera of the family Protosquillidae, Haptosquilla, Chorisquilla, Echinosquilla and Siamosquilla, are all found only in the Indo-Pacific.

Would you consider selling or trading for it? We are working on a molecular phylogeny and I have no DNA from this genus. Given the geographical distribution of the Protosquilla (they are exclusively found in the Atlantic), it would be an important addition.

Roy

[joetbs]

Hi Roy,

thanks for the ID!

please check your PM box, you're more than welcome to have the shrimp.

joe

[joetbs]

here's a similar looking one in the genus labeled as P. cf calypso from Sao Tome

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/224/492872107_118d414b07.jpg

[suppressivefire]

sweet a festive candy cane mantis! lol

[kdblove_99]

Sweet, thanks for the pic i have never seen that one!

[justinl]

lol and RC pays off for Dr. Roy :) lol. good to see, kudos to you joetbs