Pharnacia sumatrana "Halimun"

(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

the detailed care sheet with many more photos will follow here later on...
 

• easy species, but they need a big cage
• origin: Mount Halimun, Java
• incubation about 4 - 6 months
• feed very well on bramble (Rubus spp.), beech (Fagus), Salal (Gaultheris shallon), hazelnut (Corylus)
• young nymphs need a rather humid cage, around 80+ % rh would be good enough
• older nymph do well at 60 - 70 % rh
• spray regularly but let water dry up before you spray again
• males and females are very differently colored
• females are quite colorful phasmids, especially their ventral side (belly side) is rather colorful
• there is not much variation amongst different female individuals, though some might be darker colored than others
• females about 22 - 24 cm, males about 12 cm
• males can fly, though it is wobbly and just for a short distance
• provide a cage of around 90 cm (high) x 50 cm x 50 cm for about 2 adult females with 3 - 4 adult males
• taxonomic position of this culture:
  Ph. sumatrana type specimens are from Sumatra. Thus it is at least somewhat questionable whether this culture from Java (and also the one from Peninsular Malaysia) are indeed the same species. Only an indepth DNA-comparison and a very detailed morphological comparison can answer this question in the future. Even though there is some reasonable doubt that this culture from Java is conspecific with Ph. sumatrana, still I decide to use this name. Mainly cause such specimens from Java have been identified as Ph. sumtrana by various taxonomists (whether justified or not, that the future will tell). And specimens from Java have been sold for a long time as Ph. sumatrana