Sungaya inexpectata
| Sungaya inexpectata | ||||||||||||
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Sungaya inexpectata , older female of the first breeding line |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Sungaya | ||||||||||||
| Zompro , 1996 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Sungaya inexpectata | ||||||||||||
| Zompro, 1996 |
Sungaya inexpectata is a species in the order of the stick insects (Phasmatodea) and the only member of the genus Sungaya . The generic name refers to the place where the holotype was found . The specific epithet is derived from the Latin "inexpectatus" and means "unexpected". As a German common name is also found referring to the epithet Unexpected stick insect , while the first person to describe the name in recent works Sungay-Stick Insect used which in turn refers to the location of the species. In the English-speaking world, you can find “Sungay Stick Insect” or “Sunny Stick Insect”.
Discovery and occurrence
On 8 September 1995 garnered Oliver Zompro in barangay Sungay in the province of Batangas associated township Talisay on the Philippine island of Luzon , a nymph of this previously unknown type. She died a short time later at a false moult during transport. On October 7, 1995, he found an adult female in almost the same place , which he described in 1996 as the holotype of the species and which, like the animal that was first collected and stored as a paratype , is in his, the Zoological Museum of Christian-Albrechts- University of Kiel affiliated collection is located. In 1999, Zompro found other females on ferns near Lake Taal . The first males were found at the beginning of 2008 by Orlando L. Eusebio , SA Yap and AR Larona also on Luzon, more precisely on Mount Cayapo in the Mariveles Mountains in Baranggay Alangan in the municipality of Limay belonging to the province of Bataan .
features
The females reach a length of 80 to 85 millimeters and a weight of about five grams. At the end of the abdomen is the beak-shaped secondary laying spine that is typical of species of the Heteropteryginae and surrounds the actual ovipositor . The nymphs and the freshly moulted adults of the form known since 1995 are very light (beige). With increasing age, very light, adult females also initially become darker (light brown to black brown). The females of the sexual forms found since 2008 are much more contrasting in color. Mostly dark brown tones dominate, complemented by light brown areas and black or white bandages on the legs or on the body. Females are particularly noticeable with a white vertical line over their entire body. Females rarely appear in which green tones dominate the basic color. Unlike the white or black markings, this green color is not inherited. The slimmer males remain significantly smaller at 50 to 56 millimeters in length. They are also light brown or medium brown and show on the meso- and metanotum an often indistinct longitudinal line of different widths, which can be dark brown (on a light background) or light brown (on a dark background) depending on the basic color. In habit they are very similar to the males of the genus Trachyaretaon (see Trachyaretaon carmelae ). Both sexes are wingless and armed on top with relatively short and blunt spines, with the spiked crown on the back of the head and the four spines on the meso- and metanotum particularly striking. These are somewhat more pointed in the males and often surrounded by a brown diamond pattern, especially in the light-colored females. After molting, the skin is often consumed.
Reproduction
The species reproduces both sexually and through parthenogenesis . The first offspring of the wild-caught animal laid the amphora-shaped eggs, which are roughly 4.5 millimeters long and 3.7 millimeters wide, in clutches of 10 to 12 eggs in the ground every two weeks. Later generations laid their eggs one by one in the damp earth. Females are now known to simply drop their eggs on the ground. After 4 to 6 months, the nymphs hatch, which are already 17 millimeters long when they hatch. While the nymphs of the original tribe, as well as their freshly adult females, are very light-colored, the newly hatched nymphs of the sexually reproduced animals are often rather dark gray in color. Later, the female nymphs in particular show astonishing color variability. For example, animals are known whose basic color is dominated by green tones in the final stages before the imaginal molt. The entire development to the Imago takes about three to four months.
Terrarium keeping
The adult female captured by Zompro only laid four eggs before she died. From these three nymphs hatched, two of which grew into adult females. For years the entire stock in culture went back to these females. This first breeding strain is now called the "Highland" form, while the sexual strain known since 2008 is called the "Lowland" form.
The animals need temperatures of 22 to 27 ° C and a humidity of between 60 and 80 percent. During the day they sit hidden on parts of plants, which are preferably similar in color to the animals themselves, and can only be observed at night while they are eating. In addition to guava leaves ( psidium ), the easy-to-obtain blackberry leaves , hazel , rose , wild rose , red beech , hornbeam , norway maple , ivy , dogwood , ash and numerous other leaves are also eaten , which makes them very easy to care for in terrariums. The forage plants are placed in the terrarium as leafy twigs in narrow-necked vases and sprayed with water about every two days (flower sprayer). To lay eggs, a five-centimeter-high layer of a slightly damp humus-sand mixture should cover the ground. The eggs can be left in the ground or transferred to a simple incubator for better control .
The species that is one of the most frequently kept ghost horrors is listed by the Phasmid Study Group under PSG number 195.
photos
Eggs
newly hatched nymph
different color shapes
green females
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oliver Zompro : Remarks on Filipino Obrimids, with a new description (Phasmatodea: Heteropterygidae: Obriminae). Entomological Journal (1996 b) 106 (11): 450-456.
- ↑ Alexander Esch: Poles, ghosts, walking leaves: successful keeping of phasmids . Natur und Tier-Verlag, Münster 2012, pp. 116–117, ISBN 978-3-86659-221-6
- ↑ a b c d Oliver Zompro: Basic knowledge of pasmids - biology - keeping - breeding . Sungaya Verlag, Berlin 2012, p. 71, ISBN 978-3-943592-00-9
- ^ Paul D. Brock : Phasmida Species File Online . Version 2.1 / 3.5. (accessed on March 17, 2010)
- ↑ Phasmania about Sungaya inexpectata ( Memento of the original from July 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Oliver Zompro: On the discovery of Sungaya inexpectata Zompro, 1996 , Arthropoda 16 (2) August 2008, Sungaya-Verlag Kiel. ISSN 0943-7274
- ↑ a b Dr. Ireneo L. Lit Jr. & Orlando L. Eusebio : First description of the male of Sungaya inexpectata Zompro, 1996 (Phasmatodea: Heteropterygidae: Obrimini) , Arthropoda 16 (2) August 2008, Sungaya-Verlag Kiel. ISSN 0943-7274
- ↑ a b Christoph Seiler, Sven Bradler & Rainer Koch: Phasmids - care and breeding of ghost horrors, stick insects and walking leaves in the terrarium - bede, Ruhmannsfelden 2000, ISBN 3-933646-89-8
- ↑ Oliver Zompro: Specters of the Heteropterygidae family in the terrarium - Reptilia - Terraristik Fachmagazin (No. 24, August / September 2000) Natur und Tier, Münster 2000
- ↑ Phasmid Study Group Culture List ( Memento from December 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
