Phyllium celebicum

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Phyllium celebicum
Phyllium celebicum.JPG

Phyllium celebicum

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Ghost horror (Phasmatodea)
Family : Walking Leaves (Phylliidae)
Genre : Phyllium
Subgenus : Phyllium
Type : Phyllium celebicum
Scientific name
Phyllium celebicum
De Haan , 1842

Phyllium celebicum is a creeper from the walking leaf family (Phylliidae). Theanimals that have been bredunder this name in the terrariums of enthusiastssince the 1990swere discovered in 2009 by Hennemann et al. identifiedas Phyllium westwoodii . In the same work, the real Phyllium celebicum was presented, which has also been in breeding since then.

Systematics

The holotype described by Wilhem de Haan is said to be a female from the north of Sulawesi . The specific epithet refers to the original site, i.e. the island Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes. The holotype, which is supposed to be deposited in the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden , was found by Hennemann et al. cannot be tracked down. Instead, a female from the collection of the Humboldt University in Berlin, also collected by de Haan on the island of Ambon and determined by Karl Brunner-von Wattenwyl , was used for the research on which the said publication is based. Hennemann et al. propose to divide the genus Phyllium into species groups below the subgenera. Phyllium celebicum is suggested to give the celebicum species group its name .

features

The females reach a body length of 75 to 92 millimeters. The males remain significantly smaller at around 62 millimeters. The color of the animals can vary from green to yellow and orange to pale brown. A more or less intense brown markings or marbling can be found on the body and legs. As with all walking leaves, the tegmina -like front wings of the adult females imitated foliage leaves including their veins, which contributes to perfect phytomimesis . All previously known females of the celebicum species group have partially developed, membranous hind wings (alae). In Phyllium celebicum these are only half as long as the forewings that cover them, while the alae of Phyllium westwoodii reach a good two thirds to more than three quarters of the length of the tegmin. The adult males have fully developed hind wings that make them capable of short flights. The shorter forewings cover this to a good third. In contrast to the males of Phyllium westwoodii , their abdomen is not narrowly lanceolate due to the approximately oval abdominal margins, but approximately parallel in this area due to the almost straight margins of the fifth and sixth abdominal segments.

Occurrence

The species occurs only on the Indonesian islands of Ambon and Sulawesi. Different locations are assigned to other similar species. The animals from the Philippines are Phyllium ericoriai and those from China , Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) are Phyllium westwoodii .

Keeping in the terrarium

Since the late 1990s, animals from Thailand have been in breeding, which were initially kept for Phyllium celebicum . However, these Walking Leaves, which are listed under PSG number 128 by the Phasmid Study Group , were used in the context of the Hennemann et al. in 2009 carried out revision of the genus determined as Phyllium westwoodii . Thus, all husbandry reports published up to 2009 do not refer to Phyllium celebicum , but describe the keeping and breeding of Phyllium westwoodii . The strain of Phyllium celebicum used for the revision goes back to animals that were collected in 2008 in southern Sulawesi. Since this strain is now also in breeding and both Phyllium celebicum and Phyllium westwoodii are kept, there are often greater difficulties for lovers in determining the species actually kept. In addition, the similarly very similar Phyllium ericoriai is now also in can be found in the terrarium of lovers.

credentials

  1. ↑ a b c d e Frank H. Hennemann , Oskar V. Conle , Marco Gottardo & Joachim Bresseel : Zootaxa 2322: On certain species of the genus Phyllium Illiger, 1798, with proposals for an intra-generic systematization and the descriptions of five new species from the Philippines and Palawan (Phasmatodea: Phylliidae: Phylliinae: Phylliini) , Magnolia Press, Auckland, New Zealand 2009, ISSN  1175-5326
  2. ↑ Detlef Großes: Wandering Leaves , Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main 2008, ISBN 978-3-930612-46-8
  3. ^ Paul D. Brock : Phasmida Species File Online . Version 2.1 / 3.5. (accessed on February 11, 2010)
  4. ↑ Phasmid Study Group Culture List ( Memento from December 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)

Web links