Pseudophasma subapterum "Táchira"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• Redtenbacher (1906) first named this species Neophasma subapterum
• O. Conle,  F. Hennemann and Guttierez (2011) synonymised Neophasma with Pseudophasma
• 2006 - first successful culture of this species by phasmid breeders in the Czech Republic

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Origin

• Tachira (Venezuela)

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Females

• typical stick insects with colourful small wings, about 6 cm long
• basic colour is dark brown with a white dot on the lateral side of each abdominal segment
• the wing are very beautifully coloured – the fore wings are meshed yellow-black and the hing wings meshed red-black
• feelers are longer than the fore legs

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Males

• typical stick insects with colourful small wings, about 4,5 cm long
• basic colour is dark brown with a white dot on the lateral side of each abdominal segment. But there are also males with a predominantly reddish brown colour
• as in the females, the wing are very beautifully coloured – the fore wings are meshed yellow and the hing wings meshed red
• feelers are longer than the fore legs

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Eggs

• different shades of brown, about 3 x 2 mm
• rough textured surface

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Food Plants

• nymphs and adults accept and grow easily on Lonicera cf nitida (the one which is used as a ground coverer), privet (Ligustrum sp.) and lilac (Syringa sp)
• but they adore plantains (Plantago sp.)
• Aucuba (Aucuba japonica)  - is well accepted by all stages (Sarah-Jane Dulitz, Germany)

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Breeding Notes

• easy to breed
• incubate eggs at room temperatures (18 – 25°C) on a damp but not too wet substrate
• incubation time is about 4 months
• freshly hatched nymphs are dark brown with light feeler tips
• they grow up easily at room temperatures, males take some 3 months to mature, females about 3,5 months
• females start to lay eggs some 3 – 4 weeks after their final moult. They lay about 2 eggs a day and just let them drop to the ground
• from the prothoracic glands they can spray a white defensive secretion when feeling threatened. This spray has an strongly acidly smell and probably causes a (non-permanent) burning sensation when it comes in contact with the mucous membranes in the mouth or in the eyes. Thus one should be careful when handle them
• males tend to stay permenantly on a females back. But it is not so difficult to separate pairs, as it is for example in Anisomorpha species
• during the day they do not rest on their food plants, but rest on the side of the cage – preferably in a darker place