Dwarf Tenodera!

Ralph

Ralph

Panchlora
I woke up to a strange little surprise this morning. My pre-subadult Tenodera female had just molted into a >3-inch adult! Mating her will be a challenge considering males are almost an inch longer than she is.

What's really strange is that I had kept track of all her molts, having had her from a 3rd instar. She was fed at least once every two days, sometimes having several flies, katydids, or grasshoppers a day. If it's genetic, her mom was nearly 5 inches (recessive)! I'll post a pic sometime after her wings harden.

 
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The "dwarf" female is on the left, a normal one is on the right. One of the abnormal's brothers measures around 3.5 inches.

 

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She was. My last subadult nymph molted out today, and was also smaller than normal (although a good deal bigger than this one!). Would raising them in larger terraria as opposed to smaller containers revert them to normal size? I'll have to try that with this set's nymphs.

I still find it strange that she matured from pre-subadult. :blink:

 
I'm not sure how much the issue is related to cage size versus food or possibly some other variable. I do know the shrinking can be especially noticeable in captive raised Tenodera.

 
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