Sinophasma vietnamense "Tam Dao"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• 2012 – taxonomical aspects of this species are being examined by
           Joachim Bresseel (Belgium), and he will also describe this species
• 2012 – first successful culture by Bruno Kneubühler (Switzerland)
• 2012 – this species has been distributed as Sinophasma vietnamense "Tam
           Dao"

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Origin

• Tam Dao National Parc,  Vietnam 

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Females

• beautiful and agile phasmids
• about 6.5 – 7.5 cm long
• coloration is rather consistant between amongst females (F1)
• upper body side is strongly green, with some dark brown stripes and areas
• lower body side light green
• eyes yellow
• antennae brown and longer than the forelegs
• antennae longer than forelegs
• well devleoped wings
• yellow or white area on each forewing (tegmina)
• membranous part of hindwings (alae) is light pink, with dark pink veins
• praeopercular organ (the structure at the ventral end of the 7th abdominal segment, which serves as an anchorage for the male during mating) is well developed

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Males

• very beautiful and very agile phasmids
• coloration is rather consistent amongst males (F1) and similar like the females
• body coloration is a strong, glossy green, with some dark brown stripes and areas
• eyes yellow-brown
• antennae, leg joints and lower legs are orange-brown
• antennae longer than forelegs
• very well developed wings
• yellow or white area on each forewing (tegmina)
• membranous part of hindwings (alae) is light pink, with dark pink veins

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Nymphs

• about 10 mm  (L1)
• body green-brown (L1)
• legs brown and hairy (L1)
• antennae brown with dark rings and a dark tip (L1)
• antennae longer than forelegs
• by L3 it is quite easy to draw a distinction between ♀♂ (by the naked eye)

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Eggs

• very small
• about 1 x 1.5 mm
• dark brown with a light net-like stucture
• elongate-oval
• matt
• no distinct capitulum present on the eggs lid (operculum)
• micropylar plate dark brown, small and drop-like

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Food Plants

• bramble (Rubus sp.) - with oak juice coating
  is well accepted by freshly hatched nymphs and older nymphs. More about the Coating Method ...
• bramble (Rubus sp.) - without oak juice coating
  after 2 – 3 weeks, the nymphs did accept bramble leaves without a coating easily. These nymphs have also fed as adults well on bramble
• oak  (Quecus sp.)
  is well accepted by adults (not yet tested on nymphs, but I assume that nymphs feed on oak too)

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Behaviour

• especially small nymphs are very quick and they can behave quite frantically when being touched
• adults can be quite trusting and they are often active during the day
• males fly very well, whereas females have never been seen flying
• this species has an interesting mating behaviour, very similar like Micadina sp. „Cuc Phuong“ (a closely related species). Matings lasts for just a few minutes only - and then the female kicks the male off. Here is a video of the mating behaviour of Micadina sp. „Cuc Phuong“:
  Micadina mating behaviour (Youtube)

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Developement

• incubation time (HH-incubation on dry sand at 20 - 23 °C) is about 5 – 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 2.5 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 and fall to the ground
• about 60 – 80 eggs 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 quite easy to breed this species, if the food plants (e.g. oak juice for coating) are available
• 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, a higher humidity is also ok
• nymphs can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cages)
• move nymphs to a bigger cage as they grow bigger
• a cage of about 30 x 30 x 30 cm is big enough for 4 – 5 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