Giant thorn insect
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Giant thorn horror ( Trachyaretaon carmelae ), pair |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Trachyaretaon carmelae | ||||||||||||
| Lit & Eusebio , 2005 |
The giant thorn insect , great thorn insect or smooth ghost insect ( Trachyaretaon carmelae , syn .: Trachyaretaon brueckneri ) is a species from the order of the ghost insects . The name giant thorn insect is occasionally used for the larger Eurycantha calcarata , which is better known under the name of the thorn insect. The German name is suitable for Trachyaretaon carmelae insofar as this species is the largest known member of the subfamily Obriminae to date .
features
Females reach a length of 135 millimeters. Males remain significantly smaller at 75 millimeters in length. The animals, wingless in both sexes, have yellow eyes and are usually light to dark brown in color. Occasionally animals appear with reddish (mostly female) or greenish (mostly male) shades of brown. The posterior edges of the abdominal segments and the prothorax are lighter, orange-brown or pink-brown in color. Females occasionally have one or two white abdominal segments and often small white areas on the thorax (such as paired white spots on the mesothorax ). The habitus corresponds to that of the rest of the subfamily Obriminae. The lateral edges of the meso- and metathorax are keeled and clearly jagged (toothed). Both thoracic segments become wider towards the rear, the posterior edge of the mesothorax being significantly wider than the anterior edge of the metathorax, the posterior edge of which is the widest part of the body. On the meso- and metathorax there is a pair of very short thorns which form the highest point of the thorax and are surrounded by inconspicuous, small thorns. Overall, adults are less thorny than many other members of the genus and have a relatively smooth and shiny body surface, which explains the name of the smooth ghost insect.
Occurrence and systematics
Trachyaretaon carmelae is on to the Philippines belonging Babuyan Islands home. Dr. Ireneo L. Lit Jr. and Orlando L. Eusebio described the species in 2005 on animals that were collected the year before on the island of Dalupiri and deposited a female animal as a holotype , as well as various paratypes, including males, nymphs and eggs, at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños . As early as 2003, animals were found on the neighboring island of Calayan , which Oskar V. Conle and Frank H. Hennemann described as Trachyaretaon brueckneri in 2006 . The specific epithet was chosen in honor of Martin Brückner, a Munich biologist and friend of the authors. A male animal was deposited as a holotype in the Zoological State Collection in Munich . As it turned out later, these animals were representatives of the same species that had previously been described by Lit and Eusebio. This made the name Trachyaretaon brueckneri a synonym for Trachyaretaon carmelae .
Way of life and reproduction
The nocturnal and crepuscular animals usually sit on the food plants. The adult males can often be carried around by the females for weeks. In the absence of adult females, they also mount the females of other members of the Heteropterygidae family. When mating, the male pushes a greenish colored seed carrier ( spermatophore ) under the subgenital plate of the female. The cylindrical, about five millimeters long and about three millimeters wide, dark brown eggs are laid in the ground by the female using the slightly curved laying spine (secondary ovipositor ). They resemble the faeces of animals and are strongly reminiscent of those of the small thorn insect ( Aretaon asperrimus ), from which they can only be distinguished by the difficult to recognize micropylar plate that resembles an upside-down "Y" . At the front pole of the eggs there is a circular lid (operculum), which the nymphs push on when they hatch three to four months after laying the eggs. The very variably colored nymphs grow into adult animals over the next seven months. The adults then live another five to eight months.
Terrariums
The giant thorn insect does not make high demands on the keeping conditions in the terrarium . It can easily be fed on the leaves of blackberries . In addition, be oaks , pyracantha , ivy and hazel accepted. A slightly moist soil layer a few centimeters thick or a correspondingly filled flower pot must be present in the terrarium to enable the females to lay their eggs. Temperatures from 22 ° C and a humidity of 75 percent, which can be achieved by regular spraying with lukewarm water, are sufficient for breeding.
The species is listed by the Phasmid Study Group under PSG number 255 and would initially be referred to as Trachyaretaon brueckneri , since the animals go back to the breeding lines of Conle and Hennemann. By Philip Edward Bragg the bite of a female has been documented in his wrist, a behavior which is rather unusual for stick insects.
photos
egg
female
Females at exuvia
Couple, females laying eggs
Web links
swell
- ↑ Alexander Esch: Poles, ghosts, walking leaves: successful keeping of phasmids . Natur und Tier-Verlag, Münster 2012, pp. 119–120, ISBN 978-3-86659-221-6
- ↑ a b Oliver Zompro : Basic knowledge of pasmids - biology - keeping - breeding . Sungaya Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 70, ISBN 978-3-943592-00-9
- ^ A b Phasmatodea page by Oskar V. Conle and Frank H. Hennemann
- ^ Paul D. Brock : Phasmida Species File Online . Version 2.1 / 3.5. (accessed on June 14, 2009)
- ^ A b Roy Bäthe, Anke Bäthe & Mario Fuß: Phasmiden , Schüling Verlag, Münster 2009, pp. 229-230 ISBN 978-3-86523-073-7
- ↑ Phasmid Study Group Culture List ( Memento from December 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
- ↑ Photo of a bite in the wrist