Parasinophasma sp. "Tam Dao"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• 2012 – taxonomical aspects of this species are being examined by Joachim Bresseel (Belgium)
• 2012 – first successful culture by Bruno Kneubuehler (Switzerland)
• 2012 – has been distributed as Necrosciinae sp. „Tam Dao Temple“
• 2013 - this species belongs to the genus Parasinophasma (Joachim Bresseel, pers. comm.)

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Origin

• Tam Dao National Park, Vietnam

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Females

• winged, medium sized phasmids
• about 8.5 cm long
• different brown shades
• middle- and hindlegs green
• fully winged
• antennae longer than forelegs

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Males

• pretty phasmids
• about 6.5 cm long
• contrasty brown-black-white coloration
• red-brown legs
• fully winged
• antennae longer than forelegs

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Nymphs

• about 11 mm (L1)
• yellow-green (L1)
• antennae already longer than forelegs (L1)
• by L3 it is quite easy to draw a distinction between ♀♂ (by the naked eye)

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Eggs

• small
• about 3 x 1 mm
• grey-brown
• matt
• very hairy
• lengthwise fringe structures
• capitulum small
• micropylar plate small and drop shaped
• elongate-oval

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Food Plants

• bramble (Rubus sp.)
  is very well accepted by freshly hatched nymphs, older nymphs and adults

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Behaviour

• adults are sometimes active during the day
• both males and females fly very well
• adult males can behave very frantically when being touched
• matings are frequent at night, couples stay together for some hours at the most

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Developement

• incubation time (HH-incubation on slightly damp sand at 20 - 23 °C) is about 5.5 months  (F1)
• spread some dried  (!) moss over the eggs - this will make it much easier for the nymphs to hatch unscathed and it also reduces mould growth to some extend
• hatching ratio in F1 was very high (> 50%)
• males will be adult after about 2 months (at 20 – 23°C), females after about 3 months
• females start laying eggs after about 2 – 3 weeks
• eggs are flinged away with a swing of the abodmen
• about 25eggs per female and week
• adults can live for several months

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Breeding Notes

• my general notes on how to breed phasmids are a integral part of this care sheet ...
• it is very easy to breed this species
• an easy to keep and interesting species
• as the freshly hatched nymphs are already quite big, therefore the incubation container should be big enough
• keep the nymphs in a cage with good ventilation, but take care that the humidity does not drop too low
• a constantly wet paper towel on the floor of the cage helps raising humidity
• a humidity level of about 60 – 65 % rH seems to be sufficient
• nymphs can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cages)
• move nymphs to a bigger cage as they grow bigger
• as the adults are rather big, a cage of at least 30 x 30 x 30 cm should be provided for some couples of this species (or considerably larger if the cage also contains other species !)
• generally I advise to keep different phasmid species seperately (unfortunately, overcrowed cages are still very common ...)
• I have never sprayed nymphs or adults (or their cage) with water
• make shure that nymphs, which are about to undergo their adult moult, do not find places in the cage which would not offer them enough space beneath to moult successfully