Alienobostra brocki "Santa Elena"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• Hausleithner (1987) described this species first as Calynda brocki

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Culture History

• Stock 1: Costa Rica, imported by a reasearch worker in the early 1980's
• Stock 2: Costa Rica, imported by an unknown person as "Calynda sp." in 2005
• Stock 3: Costa Rica, Santa Elena, Monteverde

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Origin

• Santa Elena, Monteverde, Costa Rica

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Females

• brown, bright green or dirty green, not winged phasmids
• the size of the F1 generation varied from 14 to 16 cm. Females in the wild only reached 12 cm to 13 cm
• two parallel bright stripes on the back
• 2 blunt spines on the head
• typical long subgenital plate

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Males

• also typical phasmids - about 8 to 10 cm long
• they are not winged

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Behaviour

• Males as females can behave very hysteric and stagger around when being touched
• this makes is not so easy to change food plants. You should handle them carefully. But they do not tend to drop legs

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Eggs

• beige, about 3 mm long
• incubate the eggs at room temperatures (18-25°C) on some humid substrate, e.g. vermiculite
• incubation time is about 3 - 4 months

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Food Plants

• bramble (Rubus spp.)
  is very well accepted by nymphs and adults
• privet (Ligustrum spp.)
  is very well accepted by nymphs and adults
• hazel (Corylus avellana), oak (Quercus spp.), rose (Rosa spp.) and raspberry (Rubus idaeus) have been mention in the literature as alternative host plants
• In nature the females have been found feeding on plants of the families Melastomataceae and Asteraceae
• firethorn (Pyracantha) is well accepted  (info by Pietro Missiaggia)

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Breeding Notes

• an easy to breed, attractive and quit big species
• during the day, nymphs are usually on the leaves of the food plants, sometimes with their abdomen in a "zigzag" position
• keep nymphs in a normal terrarium (for increased humidity)
• move nymphs to a bigger cage according to their size as they grow up
• adults can be kept in quite an airy cage
• adult moult will happen after about 3 to 4 months at about 23°C
• females lay several eggs per day, which they just drop to the ground
• nymphs and adults have been sprayed with water 3 to 4 times a week
• for a successful development and moult the terrarium was filled with a thin layer of moist vermiculite on the cage floor. Note that the original habitat of this stock is a very wet tropical mountain cloud forest

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References

• Phasmida Species Files  (www.phasmida.orthoptera.org)
• Phasmatodea.com
• Schulten. 1995. Wandelnde Blätter, Stab- und Gespenstschrecken, (Calynda brocki)
• Seiler, C. & et al. 2000. Phasmiden Pflege und Zucht von Gespenstschrecken, Stabschrecken und Wandelnden Blattern im Terrarium, (Calynda brocki)
• Eilmus S, Dernbach A. and Strumo R: Costa Rica - ein Reisebericht und Beobachtungen zu bemerkenswerten Vertretern der Stab- und Gespenstschrecken (Phasmatodea). ZAG Phoenix, ISSN 2190-3476, Jahrgang 3, Nr. 2, 2012