Thorns ghost
| Thorns ghost | ||||||||||||
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Eurycantha calcarata pair , male on the right |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Eurycantha calcarata | ||||||||||||
| Lucas , 1869 |
The thorn-headed terrapin ( Eurycantha calcarata ) is one of the best-known species of the terrestrial terrors . It is seldom also called the armored shrimp, referring to the very solid exoskeleton of the adults . In addition, there are also the names New Guinea Giant Ghost Insect , Brown Thorn Ghost Insect or just Giant Ghost Insect , which in the latter case can lead to confusion with other similarly designated larger species of ghost. Furthermore, even the name "giant thorn cricket" is used, what better although smaller, but only under this common name -to-find Trachyaretaon carmelae referred. The name Stachelgepenstschrecke can also be found, but is also not unambiguous, since it is also used for other thorny or prickly species in this case.
features
The females of Eurycantha calcarata are larger and, especially in the abdomen, wider than the males. They have a clearly recognizable ovipositor and are around 140 to 150 millimeters in length larger than the 120 millimeters long males. Overall, these are narrower, but more heavily sclerotized . The thorns, which both sexes carry along the entire lateral margin of the thorax and abdomen, point slightly backwards. The massive hind legs of the males with the particularly large central spine are particularly striking. The adult animals can be brown, black or greenish in color. The nymphs are lighter.
Occurrence and way of life
The thorns eater are found in Papua New Guinea , New Caledonia , New Guinea and the Solomon Islands . During the day it stays in bushes near the ground and is predominantly nocturnal. The males can become very aggressive when stimulated. They stand on their front and middle legs, stretch their thorny hind legs towards the attacker and when they touch, fold the rails like pliers against their thighs in order to knock the opponent's mighty thorns into the body parts that are touching. The adults can be 1 to 1.5 years old.
Reproduction
A few weeks after mating, the females begin to lay eggs. To do this, they drill their abdomen into the ground and lay the approximately eight millimeters long and four millimeters wide, 80 milligrams heavy, brown eggs there. The 25 millimeter long nymphs hatch from these after just four months. These are drawn much more vividly than the adults during their entire development, whereby they show a mostly light, often green to beige, lichen-like drawing. During their development, the males moult five times and the females six moults and are adult after four to six months .
Keeping in the terrarium
Thorn ghosts are relatively easy to keep. They eat the leaves of blackberries and raspberries , which are very popular as phasmid food , as well as those of various other plants such as hazel or oak, and even ivy leaves are not spurned. However, the thorns' terrors tend to eat the leaves directly on the leaf base , so that fresh, leafy branches have to be offered more often. Since the animals love to drink, the forage plants should be sprayed with lukewarm water every day. An additional shallow drinking vessel can also be offered if it is ensured that no smaller nymphs can drown. The males also tend to be aggressive towards each other. Therefore you should choose appropriately large terrariums or keep only a few animals together.
The Phasmid Study Group has a breeding line that was collected in New Britain in 1977 under PSG number 23 . In addition, a form ( Eurycantha calcarata ssp. ) That is currently treated as an undescribed subspecies is listed under PSG number 44 . This was probably introduced from New Guinea in the early 1980s and differs from the other tribe in that it is paler in color, longer thorns on the body and the slightly larger body length. With these characteristics, it corresponds more closely to the description of Eurycantha calcarata than the animals of PSG number 23. In the meantime, both strains have been strongly mixed with one another and can hardly be found in their original form.
photos
male
Portrait of a male
Abdomen of a threatening male
A male's hind leg injured in battle
Pair; Males dark and with antennae missing
egg
female nymph
Web links
credentials
- ↑ Oliver Zompro : Basic knowledge of pasmids - biology - keeping - breeding . Sungaya Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 48, ISBN 978-3-943592-00-9
- ↑ Christoph Seiler, Sven Bradler, Rainer Koch: Phasmids - care and breeding of ghosts, stick insects and walking leaves in the terrarium , bede, Ruhmannsfelden 2000. ISBN 3-933646-89-8
- ↑ Phasmid page by Frank H. Hennemann & Oskar V. Conle ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ PSG Culture List on the Phasmid Study Group website .
