Hypocyrtus scythrus
| Ordnung | Phasmatodea | |
| Unterordnung | Verophasmatodea | |
| Infraordnung | Areolatae | |
| Superfamilie | Pseudophasmatoidea | Rehn, 1904 |
| Familie | Pseudophasmatidea | Rehn, 1904 |
| Unterfamilie | Xerosomatinae | |
| Tribus | Hesperophasmatini | |
| Gattung | Hypocyrtus | Redtenbacher, 1908 |
| Art | Hypocyrtus scythrus | Westwood, 1859 |
general informations
- this species has been cultivated successfully for the first time by Jan Meerman (Belize, 2006) and Bruno Kneubühler (2007)
- 2007 - I have distributed this species as Hypocyrtus scythrus to other breeders
origin
- Jan Meerman (Belize) collected this species in 2006 in the area of Belmopan
females
- sturdy, slow-moving insects
- quite thick when ready to lay eggs
- small, 7-8 cm long
- wingless
- many females have a protuberance on the dorsal mesothorax, which is often just two small spines, but occassionally becomes a prominent bump-like protuberance
- colouration: different shades of brown, with some darker spots
- body is rough-textured, not shining
- antennae a bit longer than the fore legs
- often females have small lobe-like expansions and small spines on the legs
- prothorax is strongly granulated, head and mesothorax are slightly granulated
- many females have a lobe-like expansion on the side of the 7th abdominal segment which can be quite prominent
- a thin appendix of the subgenitalplate often exeeds the terminal abdominal segment
males
- slim, slow-moving insects
- small, 6 cm long
- wingless
- all males have a light brown to almost white spot on each side of the metathorax, close to the joint of the hind legs
- prothorax (dorsally) and head rough-textured, rest of the body quite smooth
- colouration: light brown when as young adults, dark brown when older, with some lighter brown patches. Sides of the mesothorax are reddish brown
- antennae longer than the fore legs
eggs
- barrel-shaped, strongly-granulated, dark brown eggs with hair-like structures
- 5 mm long, 2 mm broad
breeding notes
- incubation on damp sand, with springtails to prevent growth of mould
- incubation at room temperatures (18-22 °C) takes 4-5 months
- nymphs feed easily on bramble, cut edges of leaves for newly hatched nymphs
- keep nymphs and adults at high humidity, yet provide their cage with sufficiant air ventilation
- I do never spray the nymphs nor the adults, a damp paper towel provides enough humidity
- this is a quite slow growing species - males mature after about 5 months, while females mature after about 7-8 months
- they do not require a big cage, nor do they have moulting problems in even quite a crowded cage
- as it is a slow-moving species, they do not eat a lot
- females start laying eggs some weeks after their final moult, only about 4 eggs per week which just drop to the gound