The poor little guy didin't last more than two days. I couldn't get him to eat or drink. He was the size of the fruit flies (D. melanogaster) i was giving him, which is the smallest i have available. Maybe, i messed up his cycle, i believe he came out of hibernation when i brought him in inside by accident.

Sorry to hear that.

Was it an adult yet?

what to look for, really. Though, i think a over sized palp would indicate a matured male? So, it must be a female or immature.

did you collect it? If so, to confirm an adult female what you would look for is the presence of an epigynum between the book lungs, as shown on the right side of this drawing:


For an adult female this will normally show up as a darkened, sclerotized plate, often obscured by numerous hairs. For these smaller specimens a stereoscope or strong magnifying glass is very handy.

I linked to the genus description on the Admestina info page. Based on the drawings there, you probably wouldn't see much externally other than the epyginal openings, if you can see anything at all. Shining a bright light into the alcohol from the side, with no light hitting the surface, will make it easier to find the internal, sclerotized sperm ducts, which will also indicate an adult female. That's exactly what I did here:
to avoid tedious dissection work on such a tiny specimen.

I did locate the epigynum, unfortunately i didn't save the photos.