Species identification thread (real animals)

[SerAndrew]

Hi @bmathison1972 @Isidro any idea on this mantis? Looks like a baby.
Shooted in Philippines

Yes it's a "baby" (a nymph), and if this would make an identification very difficult in Europe or North America, you can imagine how is it in a tropical place as the Philippines, with lots more species.

Maybe, if you try a better photo (your mantis is lost in a big extension of meaningless background, details can't be seen if you don't crop your photos), and then you find an expert in South East Asian mantises or even a good expert in mantises in general, maybe there is a possibility of identify it, even being a nymph.

Thanks @Isidro , I will take your advice of taking the best posible pictures. I could have never figured that out. Also, I will definitely only get studio photographs of wildlife so that the background is no meaningless. And, of course, I will reach my south east Asia mantis specialist "de cabecera".

[BlueKrono]

Hi @bmathison1972 @Isidro any idea on this mantis? Looks like a baby.
Shooted in Philippines

Yes it's a "baby" (a nymph), and if this would make an identification very difficult in Europe or North America, you can imagine how is it in a tropical place as the Philippines, with lots more species.

Maybe, if you try a better photo (your mantis is lost in a big extension of meaningless background, details can't be seen if you don't crop your photos), and then you find an expert in South East Asian mantises or even a good expert in mantises in general, maybe there is a possibility of identify it, even being a nymph.

Thanks @Isidro , I will take your advice of taking the best posible pictures. I could have never figured that out. Also, I will definitely only get studio photographs of wildlife so that the background is no meaningless. And, of course, I will reach my south east Asia mantis specialist "de cabecera".

Well that's pretty snarky.

[EpicRaptorMan]

Hi @bmathison1972 @Isidro any idea on this mantis? Looks like a baby.
Shooted in Philippines

Yes it's a "baby" (a nymph), and if this would make an identification very difficult in Europe or North America, you can imagine how is it in a tropical place as the Philippines, with lots more species.

Maybe, if you try a better photo (your mantis is lost in a big extension of meaningless background, details can't be seen if you don't crop your photos), and then you find an expert in South East Asian mantises or even a good expert in mantises in general, maybe there is a possibility of identify it, even being a nymph.

Thanks @Isidro , I will take your advice of taking the best posible pictures. I could have never figured that out. Also, I will definitely only get studio photographs of wildlife so that the background is no meaningless. And, of course, I will reach my south east Asia mantis specialist "de cabecera".

Well that's pretty snarky.

If that's the case then one could reach the conclusion that the original response was also snarky.

[bmathison1972]

yup...

but let's put this to rest while we're ahead

[Isidro]

Thanks, BlueKrono. Andrew have ALWAYS been like this in every aspect of his life and relationships with others. But I always helped him without hard feelings and without even checking if was he or another who asks. He always gave, give and will give a bad behaviour in exchange for a polite help, even when himself asked for it. But I will continue helping him and everyone else.

The comment of EpicRaptorMan is absolutely out of place and it's indeed a bit offensive.

[EpicRaptorMan]

Hardly lol! The only comment I found out of place was the claim that got us all talking about it in the first place.
Now, upon second viewing I can totally see how your own response could be seen as a jab; targeting his relatively exceptional photo (as I will go more in detail for my reasoning below) and sending him off to find a "Southeast Asian Mantis expert." Based on your comment alone it seems that you do in fact hold a grudge against SerAndrew which makes me believe that your claims of being unbiased are invalid.

Additionally, the only photo that had a background that would've actually affected any sort of proper identification was the previous Stone fish species as it was totally camouflaged. This mantis nymph, however, is much better as a photo.

[bmathison1972]

As someone who has done A LOT of image based identifications, especially of insects for sites like BugGuide and iNaturalist, not to mention telemedicine diagnosis for my job, you have a better chance of getting a reliable ID with an image is cropped to 'just the animal'. In fact on BugGuide, it is listed as a recommended submission criterion.

I am sorry I can't help with the ID; mantids are not my specialty group, especially outside of North America.

[EpicRaptorMan]

Ok. Does this make it better? The image is now cropped.