Bruno Kneubühler

Born (1964) and grown up in a small village near Lucerne (Switzerland), named Richenthal. As the name suggests, this was a rather remote place. But there was a lot of greenery, forests and rivulets around my parents house - occupied by all sorts of different living entities. Thus I started at a very young age to bring every creature that was crawling and flying, creeping and swimming, hopping and jumping back to our appartement - to observe, breed and marvel. Guess sometimes this was not to the sheer delight of my mother  :)

Since then I couldn't get the world of crawling creatures ever again out of my mind, especially the six-legged ones. And then one fine day, I discoverd my first phasmids in the backroom of the biology class room at the gymnasium - Carausius morosus and Extatosoma tiaratum. That is where my deep fascination for these insects started off.....

When I was studying in Zurich (food science at the ETH, graduation as PhD in food microbiology) I could make some great connections with well experienced phasmid breeders all over Europe. They gave me a lot of knowledge about breeding phasmids and I also got some new species from them.  But only very few species were available for a beginner like me back then - unlike today. To get a new species was a veritable sensation for me - which could give me even sleepless nights

In 1990 I made an internship for a big food manufacturer in Malaysia - in the context of my study.  And who is surprised to know that I have choosen Malaysia mainly out of my interest for phasmids - and not so much for motives relevant to my study. So then at the end of that internship, I could also explore the Cameroon Highlands  (Malaysia) for 10 days. But of course at night when the phasmids were out. and about. When the habitants up there saw me venturing out in the forest at night, they thought that european guy must be crazy - as only fools go out to the jungle at night

Till now, this has been my first and only trip to a rain forest - in search of new phasmid species. But still I can draw very precious and powerful memories from that visit. It is purely astonishing how dense the atmosphere is out in a virgin rain forest at night - pure life

For some time I have been a student and novice monk in an old indian spiritual tradition, in search for more substantial answers about life. The modern nihilistic and egoistic views of modern society and it's blind belief in school sciences could no more reach my heart

Over the years I could breed many of different phasmid species from different places around the globe. I am breeding them in vivo, study aspects of their biology, document their habitus by taking detailed photos and make these informations also available for taxonomic studies conducted by my colleagues.

Mainly I am working with Oskar Conle and Frank Hennemann from Germany - two of the leading phasmid taxonomists. I was fortunate enough to build up a very enriching and friendly collaboration with them. Their vast knowledge in phasmid taxonomy, readiness to help and enthusiasm for the subject were and still are a great support and incentive for my own endeavours in working with phasmids. And (even more important to me) I value their caring kindness and modesty

And I was very lucky to meet my dear wife Sabine some years ago. Though she is not really enthusiastic about insects in general or phasmids in particular (actually she is a bit afraid of them),  nevertheless she supperts me in may ways - and her loving support means a lot to me

Furthermore I am a certified therapist (Craniosacral Therapy, Polarity, Somatic Experiencing, www.cranio-sacral-luzern.ch) in Lucerne, and part time I am also working in a microbiological laboratory in Zurich

 

And my life's motto  ?

It is normal to be different !