Lonchodiodes sp. "Negros"

(by Bruno Kneubühler)

General Infos

• altough very similar to L. grandis (Hennemann & Conle 2007), it might be a new species. Joachim Bresseel is at the moment working on the taxonomic position of this speices
• 2008 - first successful culture of this species and Bruno Kneubuehler
• 2009 - this species has been distributed as Lonchodiodes sp. "Negros"

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Origin

• Mt. Kanlaon und Mt. Mandalagan - two mountains in nothern Negros (Philippines)

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Females

• thin insects - about 11,5 to 14,5 cm long
• most females are coloured green with a slight violet touch and some dark spots
• few females can be coloured violet-brown

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Males

• thin insects - about 9,5 to 10 cm long
• colouration does not vary as much as in the females
• thorax is reddish-brown, while the rest of the body is brown or dark brown

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Eggs

• about 3,5 x 2 mm
• dark brown with a lighter net-like structure
• they have a characteristically pointed end

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Food Plants

• nymphs as well as adults feed well on bramble (Rubus sp.), but they also feed on beech (Fagus sp.)

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Breeding Notes

• it seems to be a very easy species to breed
• incubation on damp (not too wet) sand, with springtails to reduce mould growth
• incubations time at room temperatures (about 20-23°C) is about 6 months
• hatching ratio was higher than 50%
• small nymphs can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cage), with a constantly wet paper towel on the bottom of the cage
• as this species will grow quite big, older nymphs have to be transferred to an appropriately sized, well ventilated cage as they grow up
• I do not spreay the nymphs or adults with water
• as with all species, I do cover the water-container for the food plants with cotton wool. Thus faeces does not fall in the water with the food plants. Otherwise, feaces will dissolve and sucked up by the plants. So in the end the phasmids have to eat their own stool, which might not really be to their advantage !
• by L3 it is easy to distinguish males from females (by the developing Poculum at the ventral abdominal ending)
• males will be adult after about 2 months, females after about 3 month (at room temperatures)
• females start to lay eggs after about 3-4 weeks
• they just drop the eggs to the ground