Brockphasma spinifemoralis "Bach Ma"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• formerly known as Neohiraseini sp. "Bach Ma"
• described in 2014 as Brockphasma spinifemoralis by Ho, Liu, Bresseel, Constant:
  http://biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.3826.1.9

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Culture History

• 2012 - first successful culture by Joachim Bressel
• 2013 – distributed to other breeders as Neohiraseini sp. „Bach Ma“
• 2014 - distributed to other breeders as Brockphasma spinifemoralis "Bach Ma"

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Origin

• Bach Ma NP in Vietnam 

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Females

• very spiny, small and brawny-looking phasmids
• body length about 5.5 – 6 cm
• females are very contrasty colored
• brown or green-brown with a black patterning
• upper body with many and rather long spines
• legs with short spines
• brown antennae are longer than the fore legs

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Males

• very spiny, small phasmids
• body length about 4 cm
• similarly colored as the females
• upper body with long spines

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Nymphs

• body length about 16 mm
• green-black
• antennae with a white area near the tip
• by L3 it is quite easy to draw a distinction between ♀♂ (by the naked eye)

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Eggs

• about 4 x 2.5 mm
• light brown
• matt
• oval
• surface netting-like structered
• egg lid conic
• micropylar plate is small and round

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Food Plants

• it is very much recommendede to cut away the edges of the leaves for nymphs in L1
• regularly change the plants and the water in which they stand
• bramble (Rubus spp.)
  is very well accepted by nymphs and adults
• fern (different species from the forests)
  is very well accepted by nymphs and adults
• cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus)
  is very well accepted by nymphs and adults
• privet (Ligustrum spp.)
  is well accepted by adults, not tested with nymphs
• Rhododendron
  is well accepted by adults, not tested with nymphs

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Behaviour

• nymphs as well as adult are passive during the day and out and about feeding at night
• if being touched nymphs and adults are passive and feign death
• a defensive spray has not been observed
• males stay with the same female for a long time
• females dig a small hole in the ground (e.g. dry sand), then they bend their abdomen over their head in order to drop an egg into that hole. Afterwards they try to cover up the egg and hole with substrate. But they are not very efficient at digging holes, as most eggs will still be scattered on the surface. This egglaying behaviour is also displayed by members of the neotropical genus Anisomorpha (e.g. A. buprestoides from the USA)

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Developement

• incubation time (HH-incubation on slightly damp sand at 20 - 23 °C) is about 4 - 10 months. As I did not know the date when the eggs were laid, therefore I can not give a more accurate incubation time
• 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 high (> 40%)
• males will be adult after about 5 months (at 20 – 23°C), females after about 5 – 6 months
• females start laying eggs after about 5 - 6 weeks
• only 1 – 2 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 an integral part of this care sheet …
• generally I recommend to keep only one species per cage – the culture is much more likely to be successful than in an overcrowed, multi-species cage
• it is very easy to breed this species
• for a succesful culture it is highly recommend to keep nymphs seperate from the adults. This makes it much easier to monitor their developement and they are protected from being disturbed or even harmed by the much bigger adults (like during their moults)
• 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 80+ % rH (for adults and nymphs) seems to be fine
• nymphs and adults can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cages like Faunarium)
• move nymphs to a bigger cage as they grow bigger
• a cage of at least 30 x 30 x 30 cm should be provided for 4 – 5 adult couples
• I have never sprayed nymphs, adults or their cage with water
• make sure 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

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References

• Phasmida Species Files  (www.phasmida.orthoptera.org)