Genus
Species
Stock
CLP
207
PSG
288
Culture status
Probably lost
Foodplants
Bramble (Rubus spp.)
Raspberry (Rubus idaeus)
Oak (Quercus robur)
Hypericum spp.
Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
Breeding notes
(by Bruno Kneubuehler)
General Informations
- Günther described this species as Phasmotaenionema australe (1933)
- 2006 - first successful culture of this species by Bruno Kneubühler
- 2006 - I have distributed this species to other breeders as Phasmotaenia sp. "Malaita"
- 2007 - identified as Phasmoaenia australe
- 2008 - as Günther synonymised Ph. australe and Ph. godeffroyi, this species was renamed Phasmotaenia godeffroyi
- 2009 - new research results (Conle & Hennemann, 2009) show that Ph. australe and Ph. godeffroyi are in fact valid and distinct species. Therefore this species has again been renamed as Phasmotaenia australe
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Origin
- Central Kwara'ae Province, Malaita, Solomon Islands
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Females
- females are of a uniform brown colour (with some darker parts on their underside)
- length is about 17-18 cm long
- they have rudimentary wings which are not displayed - even when handled
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Males
- males are of a greenish brown with some white markings on their forewings
- they are able to fly and do so easily
- their length is about 10 - 11 cm
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Food Plants
- I have kept mine easily on bramble (Rubus sp.), but they would prefer raspberry and oak
- but other breeders have reported difficulties on bramble. It seems that this specie also accepts Hypericum and Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
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Breeding Notes
- nymphs hatch after about 2-3 months
- incubation on damp sand, with springtails to reduce mould growth
- nymphs took easily to bramble
- they grew up with no further problem in an fairly airy cage, with a wet paper towel on the bottom to increase humidity
- nymphs reached adulthood with about 2,5 months. As usual, males (having one moult less) mature earlier than the females
- the first females to reach maturity did not feed proberly after their final moult, often crawling exited through the whole cage and some died soon thereafter. Then I had the impression that the males are giving the females too much stress by their constant attempts to mate. Especially so when there are more males in the cage than females. Therefore I removed all adult males from the cage with the females. And this changed the whole situation almost at once. The adult females started to feed again and grew fatter every day. Therefore I put now only once every two week some males in the cage with the females for about 2 days. And always less or just as many males as there are females.
- about 2 - 3 weeks after their final moult, females start to lay eggs
- they let the eggs just drop to the ground