Vietnam stick insect
| Vietnam stick insect | ||||||||||||
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Vietnam stick insect ( Ramulus artemis ), female |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ramulus artemis | ||||||||||||
| ( Westwood , 1859) |
The Vietnam stick insect , green stick insect or also green Vietnam stick insect ( Ramulus artemis , Syn . : Baculum artemis ) is a ghost insect from the family Phasmatidae .
features
The habitus of the Vietnam stick insect is elongated. The very long-legged animals have a typical stick insect shape. Females reach a body length of 9 to 12.5 cm. Body, legs and antennae are usually dark green, rarely gray-brown. The end of the abdomen , more precisely the seventh and eighth abdominal segments , is usually drawn in brown. In addition, on the underside of the rear edge of the seventh abdominal segment, i.e. on the seventh abdominal sternite , there is a backward-pointing spine. Between the eyes there is a very noticeable brown band, especially in not yet adult females, which can fade with increasing age. Occasionally the females have semicircular horns (auricles) on their heads, often called "ears". Their antennae are almost half as long as the thighs of the front legs. The first antenna segment ( sapus ) is the longest and widened like a leaf. Males are rare. They can be dark brown in color or have a green body with brown legs and a brown end of the abdomen. With a length of about 8.5 cm, they remain significantly smaller and slimmer than the females. Their antennae are slightly longer and therefore more than half as long as the fore legs.
Distribution and way of life
Since the animals common in terrariums come from Vietnam , Ramulus artemis received the common name Vietnam stick insect, but its distribution area also extends over large parts of China and India .
The Vietnam stick insect reproduces both sexually and parthenogenetically . Phenotypic males can also occur with purely parthenogenic reproduction , but these have no influence on the sex ratio of the offspring . The eggs are dropped one by one. They are brown, very flat, almost rectangular and a good 3 mm long. The nymphs already hatch after about two months from the eggs and grow in another four months Imagines approach. Defense strategies of this species include both shedding the legs ( autotomy ) and optimal camouflage . The nymphs in particular cling to branches with outstretched legs or hang down from them. Adult females can live up to a year.
Taxonomy and systematics
John Obadiah Westwood first described the species in 1859 under the name Bacillus artemis . The specific epithet " Artemis " chosen by him is borrowed from Greek mythology and dedicated to the goddess of the same name of the hunt . In 1873 the species was first placed by James Wood-Mason as Bacillus (Baculum) artemis in the subgenus Baculum . After Henri de Saussure raised the subgenus to the status of a genus in 1861, the species was first referred to as Baculum artemis by William Forsell Kirby in 1904 . Although Karl Brunner-von Wattenwyl placed the species in another genus as Clitumnus artemis in 1907 , it was referred to as Baculum artemis for almost 100 years . Only with the revision of the collective genus Baculum was it placed in the genus Ramulus established by Saussure in 1862 .
In addition, Henry Walter Bates described the species in 1865 under the name Bacillus patellifer and Brunner-von Wattenwyl in 1907 as Clitumnus porrectus . The following synonyms result for the Vietnam stick insect :
- Syn. = Bacillus artemis Westwood , 1859
- Syn. = Baculum artemis ( Westwood , 1859)
- Syn. = Bacillus patellifer Bates , 1865
- Syn. = Clitumnus porrectus Brunner von Wattenwyl , 1907
The holotype is a female from Assam which Westwood has deposited in the Entomological Collection of the University of Oxford . The holotype of Bacillus patellifer can also be found in this collection. While the lectotype of Clitumnus porrectus can be found in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris . The type specimens of the two synonymized species are also female.
Terrariums
The Vietnam stick insect is widespread among ghost aficionados due to its modesty and ease of reproduction and is recommended as a beginner species. The leaves of many rose plants such as blackberries , raspberries , hawthorns , dwarf medlars , but also those of oaks are accepted as food . The humidity in the terrarium should be 60 to 80 percent.
The species, which was introduced to Europe by Czech breeders from northern Vietnam in 1992 , is listed by the Phasmid Study Group under PSG number 144.
Web links
credentials
- ^ A b c Paul D. Brock : Phasmida Species File Online . Version 5.0 / 5.0 (accessed June 4, 2013)
- ↑ a b c Sven Bradler , Christoph Seiler: Phasmids - way of life - care - breeding. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 979-3-8001-7422-5 , p. 122.
- ↑ a b c Roy Bäthe, Anke Bäthe, Mario Fuß: Phasmiden. Schüling Verlag, Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-86523-073-7 , pp. 208-211.
- ↑ a b c Alexander Esch: stick insects, ghosts, walking leaves: successful keeping of phasmids . Natur und Tier-Verlag, Münster 2012, ISBN 978-3-86659-221-6 , p. 108.
- ↑ a b c Ingo Fritzsche : Poles - Carausius, Sipyloidea & Co. Natur und Tier Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-937285-84-9 , pp. 56-57.
- ↑ Phasmid Study Group Culture List ( Memento from December 5, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (English)
- ↑ Phasmatodea page of ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2011 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. Oskar V. Conle and Frank H. Hennemann
