Myronides glaucus "Peleng"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

• 2006 - first successful culture by Daniel Dupont (France)
• identification to the genus level by Frank Hennemann (Germany)
• species described as Myronides glaucus Hennemann, 2021

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Origin

• Peleng (Sulawesi)

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Females

• about 9,5 to 10,5 cm long
• typical stick insects
• they sport a very beautiful coloration - a mixture of blue-green-yellow

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Males

• about 8 cm long
• male nymphs have the same interesting coloration (blue-green-yellow) as the females
• male nymphs can easily be distinguished from the female nymphs at the L3 stage
• at this stage, male nymphs already have a small "bump" on the ventral abdominal ending (which will eventually become the poculum)

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Nymphs (L1)

• green body
• white antennae tips
• in colouration and appearance they are a quite similar to nymphs of Periphetes forcipatus

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Eggs

• elongate-oval
• about 2 x 1,5 mm
• light brown or grey-brown - with washy darker spots
• surface is lightly granulated and not shiny

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Food Plants

• nymphs (from L1) and adults easily feed on bramble (Rubus sp.)

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Defensive Behaviour

• a rather lethargic species
• when being touched, then usually they just freeze
• and somtimes the try to crawl out of the grip

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Breeding Notes

• a very easy to keep and beautiful species
• incubation with the HH-method (on very slightly damp sand) yielded a good hatching ration of 50+ %
• springtails can be added to the incubation box - to reduce mould growth a bit
• incubation time at room temperatures (20 - 23°C) is about 3 - 4 months
• keep the nymphs in a cage with high humidity level (80% or even higher)
• if humidity dropes too low (below 65%) then mismoults could be observed
• therefore do not choose the air ventilation areas too big
• a constantly wet paper towel on the floor of the cage helps raising humidity high enough
• for adults a lower humidity level is also OK
• nymphs and adults can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cage)
• move nymphs to a bigger cage as they grow bigger
• I have never sprayed nymphs or adults 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
• this is a slow-moving species which does not feed a lot
• it is also a slow growing species - males will be adult after about 4,5 - 5 months (at 20 - 23°C), females after 5 - 6 months
• they can be observed regularely moving about the cage during the day - but slowly, slowly.....
• females start to lay eggs after about 3 - 4 weeks
• they lay about 15 eggs per week
• eggs are just dropped to the ground