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Acanthoclonia sp. "Rio Topo, Ecuador"
(by Bruno Kneubühler)

 

General infos

• 2008 - first successful culture of this species by Bruno Kneubühler (Switzerland)
• 2009 - first distribution under the preliminary name Acanthoclonia sp. "Rio Topo, Ecuador"
• 2009 - taxonomical reserach about this species is being carried out by Oscar Conle. As soon as there will be more information I will inform here

Origin

• in November 2007 Horst Kaech (Ecuador) collected my culture stock at Rio Topo (Tunguragua, Ecuador). The habitat was lowgrowing vegetation alongside the river Rio Topo - at an altitude of about 1600 m and close to the town Baños (Tungurahua)

Females

• small and rather stout - about 4,5 to 5 cm long
• very spiny
• wingless
• mottled with shades of different brown, yellow-brown and green, and some dark, almost black markings
• antennae as long as fore legs

Males

• small and more slim than the females - about 3,5 to 4 cm long
• very spiny
• wingless
• colouration as in females
• antennae might be a bit longer than the fore legs

Eggs

• very small - about 2 mm long, 1 mm wide
• fragile
• dark brown
• lighly rough-textured

Foodplants

• newly hatched nymphs have accepted only fern so far, different fern species from the forest were preferred. Fern can also be found during the winter, even under the snow, but of course not as abundantly as in summer
• also home-grown or indoor fern is being accepted
• older nymphs (about L4) will also accept Cotoneaster (the one which is being used as ground cover)
• adults will also feed on ivy (Hedera helix), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), leatherleaf Viburnum (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) und bramble (Rubus sp.)

Breeding notes

• overall an easy species - if fern for the nymphs and a place with moderate temperatures are available
• incubation of the eggs on damp sand, with spring tails to reduce mould growth
• incubate the eggs of this species at moderate temperatures, best if not above 20°C or below
• incubation time is around 3,5 to 4 months
• freshly hatched nymphs are very small, about 8 mm long. Thus they also consume also just small quantities, which is certainly an advantage when one has to collect fern from the forests in winter or from home-grown fern
• as the nymphs are so small they are easily overlooked. Therefore one should be especially careful when changing the food plants
• keep the nymphs in a cage with good ventilation and still high humidity
• a constantly wet paper towel on the cage helps raising humidity
• I have never sprayed nymphs or adults with water
• they do better at moderate temperatures, best if kept around 20°C or below. The natural habitat was a river bank at higher altitude, which can explain for their need for moderate temperatures
• males will be adult after about 5 months, females after about 6 months
• it takes up to 4 weeks until females will start to lay eggs
• eggs are just dropped to the ground, a female will lay about 20 to 25 eggs a week