Haaniella echinata
| Haaniella echinata | ||||||||||||
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Haaniella echinata , male |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Haaniella echinata | ||||||||||||
| ( Redtenbacher , 1906) |
Haaniella echinata is a species of ghost horror thatis native toall of northern Borneo . After Haaniella scabra, it is the representative of the genus Haaniella , which inhabits the highest biotopes on Borneo.
features
As with all representatives of this genus, Haaniella echinata also has many pointed spines on the head, body and legs of both sexes. In this species, too, both pairs of wings are shortened, with the fore wings , which are designed as tegmina , completely covering the rear wings, which have been transformed into stridulation organs . The characteristics that make this species unmistakable include the bright turquoise blue inter-joint membranes on the hips ( coxes ) and between the first abdominal sternites of the abdomen ( abdomen ), which can already be found in the newly hatched nymphs . They form a clear contrast to the underside of the hind coxae and hind legs (hind femurs ), which is often clearly red in color in nymphs . In adult animals, these areas are usually only colored red-brown or orange. In adult males, the turquoise blue sometimes gives way to a turquoise green.
The females reach a body length of 9 to 13.5 cm, which is hardly behind that of the largest Haaniella species, Haaniella grayii . The abdomen ends with the prickly laying apparatus typical of the subfamily Heteropteryginae . The ventrally located subgenital plate of this laying apparatus, which is also known as the operculum, is usually somewhat longer in Haaniella echinata females than the dorsal part, which is called the supraanal plate or epiproct . At the end of the epiproct there are four, often indistinct, small teeth. The operculum is keeled in the middle and rounded at the tip. The coloring of the females is mostly dominated by a dark brown basic color. Light brown animals are less common. The larger spines are greenish in color. In many dark brown females, the area around the transition from the pro- to the mesonotum is a little lighter and also often with a slightly greenish tinge. There are also females who are brightly speckled on their legs or all over their bodies.
Males remain significantly smaller than the females with a length of 7 to almost 9.5 cm. Usually dark brown tones also dominate them. In addition to the turquoise-green areas already mentioned, the articular membranes of the fore and middle hips and the larger spines are usually noticeably dark green. Many males have two light brown areas running parallel to the body axis, which can extend over the entire pronotum to the front mesonotum and are brightest at the transition between the two breast segments.
The forewings are usually characterized by very variable, white patterns in both sexes. These can be heart-shaped, wide or narrow "V" -shaped, "M" -shaped or otherwise shaped. In the case of dark brown females, there are also animals without wing markings, just as in the completely speckled females only this markings can be found on the wings.
distribution
The distribution area of Haaniella echinata includes Brunei as well as almost the entire Malay part of Borneo. So sites are documented all over Sabah and, starting from the north, also in two thirds of Sarawak . In addition to rainforests in the lowlands, it also inhabits regions up to a height of 800 m, around Mount Kinabalu .
Behavior and reproduction
The species is similar in its nocturnal way of life to the other members of the genus living on Borneo. Their defensive behavior also consists of spreading the held up, spiked hind legs and closing them when touched by an attacker. The eggs, which are up to 12 mm long and 8 mm wide, are laid at night. The eggs weighing 250 to 300 mg are laid in the ground by means of the laying apparatus. In addition to dark brown, bristly hairy eggs with a flat lid (operculum), there are also lighter, barely hairy eggs with a lid that rises slightly towards the center. In the latter, the diagonal cross-shaped micropylar plate , in the lower angle of which the micropyle is located, is easier to see. The nymphs hatch after 6 to 12 months. With a body length of 37 mm and their compact build, they are among the largest and heaviest insect hatchlings. Below they already show the colored drawing already described. On the upper side, they are initially drawn in brown except for a white spot on each of the hind legs and an abdominal segment with a white border on the outside. In older nymphs these white spots disappear and the animals increasingly take on the color of the adults . It takes 10 to 12 months for them to reach adulthood.
Systematics and Etymology
In 1906 Josef Redtenbacher described the species as Heteropteryx echinata , although he did not use the generic name Haaniella, which was introduced by William Forsell Kirby in 1904 . The specific epithet " echinata " was chosen as an allusion to the prickly body surface ( ancient Greek echínos (ἐχῖνος) for sea urchin (Echinoidea)). John WH Rehn first referred to the species in 1938 with the name Haaniella echinata, which is still valid today . A number of syntypes are stored
in museums in Vienna , Saint Petersburg and Berlin , of which a male stored in Vienna was defined as the lectotype in 2005.
Terrariums
After Allan Harmann first imported some animals for terraristics from Sabah in 1979 , further imports from Sabah followed in 1984 and 1993, from Brunei in 1993 and 1994 and from Sarawak in 1996. From the phasmid Study Group is Haaniella echinata under the PSG number 26th
For keeping this species, medium-sized to large terrariums with suitable hiding spots and a substrate that is always slightly moist and suitable for laying eggs are required. While a relatively high level of humidity is necessary, temperatures of 20 to 25 ° C are sufficient for successful keeping. The range of forage plants is large. In addition to the leaves of the rose family (Rosaceae), such as those of blackberries , raspberries , hawthorn and firethorn , also those of oak , ivy , hazel , rhododendron and other plants are eaten. Haaniella echinata is considered to be the species with the best hatching results within the genus.
photos
left dorsal view of an egg of the most widespread breeding strain, middle and right dorsal or lateral view of less hairy eggs
Newly hatched nymph
Underside of a male and a female sub-adult nymph
Portrait of a male
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Philip E. Bragg : Phasmids of Borneo , Natural History Publikations (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 2001, pp. 80-85, 97, ISBN 983-812-027-8
- ↑ a b c Holger Dräger: Specters of the Heteropterygidae Kirby family , 1896 (Phasmatodea) - an overview of previously kept species, part 1: The subfamily Heteropteryginae Kirby , 1896 , ZAG Phoenix, No. 4 December 2011 Volume 2 (2), p 38-61, ISSN 2190-3476
- ^ Paul D. Brock : Phasmida Species File Online . Version 2.1 / 4.1. (accessed on January 15, 2012)
- ^ Eugène Bruins: Illustrated Terrarium Encyclopedia - Dörfler Verlag, Eggolsheim 2006, p. 76, ISBN 978-3-89555-423-0
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Phasmid Study Group Culture List ( Memento from December 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
