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Achrioptera fallax
(von Bruno Kneubühler)
 

 
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General Notes

• 2008 - first successful culture of this species by Frank Glaw (Germany) and Moritz Grubenmann (Switzerland)

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Origin

• 2007 - Frank Glaw (Germany) found this species in early March in an area called Orangea (Montagne de Francais, Antsiranana, Diana, North-Madagascar)

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Female

• very big and sturdy phamids
• 20 - 26 cm long
• the area of the thorax and the legs are heavily spined
• head - the number of these spines can vary (1 - 4) or spines can be totally absent
• small, red wings
• they can not fly
• main colouration is a more or less light brown - with blue, yellow and pink parts

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Male

• big phasmids, but much thinner than the females
• 14 - 17 cm long
• just after the adult moult, the males are still a glossy olive-brown
• it takes about 3 - 4 weeks for their typical dazzling colouration to develop fully
• then they are shiny blue (upper side), shiny turquoise blue (lower side), red (wings) and shiny yellow with red (lower side of the thighs)
• they can not fly

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Nymphs

• nymphs (especially just after they hatched) are great in escaping
• therefore one should make sure that the cage does not offer them any opportunity to escape through crevices
• for the first days it is perfectly normal for the nymphs to run around the cage - up and down, again and again
• once they started to feed, their colour changes from dark brown to a lighter brown and they become more stationary

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Eggs

• about 4 - 6 mm long, 2 mm wide
• eggs from different females are often of different sizes
• smooth surface
• elongate-oval
• colouration is highly variable, from brown to mottled in brown-grey, red-brown, brown-greenish to almost green
• along the egg's periphery runs a whitish border stripe

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Food Plants

• nymphs as well as adults feed nicely on bramble (Rubus sp.)
• I feed them exclusively on bramble (Rubus sp.)
• other food plants: Salal (Gaultheria shallon), oak (Quercus sp.), Eucalyptus, raspberry (Rubus idea)
• if you are feeding them on bramble, then feed them in springtime as long as possible with bramble leaves from the last year. They do not like the fresh leaves, and may even stop feeding on bramble if offered only fresh leaves
• adult females sometimes stop feeding without any obvious reason, even if they were feeding nicely for a some time already. Then they wander around the cage restlessly, also during the day. If this happens, they should be provided with other food plants - otherwise they starve to death. Salal is of great help in these moment
• update 2011 - as some adult females refuse to feed on bramble, therefore I am now offering Salal and bramble to females as soon as they turn adult

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Defensive Behaviour

• to frighten off a potential predator (like the hand of the breeder), males and females pinch him with their spiny hind legs, flashing their red wings repeatedly and make quite a loud, creaky noise (with the wings)
• males often also let themselves drop to the ground

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Breeding Notes

• on of the most beautiful species in culture
• still some experience is needed to breed them successfully
• incubation: HH-method (on dry sand) yields good hatching ratios (50+ % in my culture)
• as the hatching period of this species in their natural habitat is during the dry summer, therefore I prefer to incubat the eggs on dry sand with the HH-method. And actually eggs tend to get mouldy quite quickly if incubated on a damp substrate......
• incubation time at room temperatures (20 - 23°C) is about 3 - 4,5 months
• I put the freshly hatched nymphs in big cage (60 x 40 x 40 cm) - with good ventilation
• to enshure that the nymphs grow up healthy, a good supply of light and a ventilator seem to be very advantagous or even necessary  !
• nymphs can even die if they are not exposed to enough light
• if possible, keep their cage facing a window in the west, so that they are exposed to some direct morning sun light. But make shure that the temperatures can not raise too high in the cage - when directly exposed to sunlight !
• I use HID lamps to provide them with enough light (as I do not have a west window.....)
• UV-light seems not to be a crucial factor
• keep the nymphs in a cage with good ventilation
• as many phasmids, they like a light breeze (provided by a ventilator)
• take care that the humidity does not drop too low
• a constantly wet paper towel on the bottom of the cage helps raising humidity
• I have never sprayed nymphs or adults with water
• make shure that nymphs, which are about to undergo their adult moult, do not find places in the cage which would not offer them enough space beneath to moult successfully
• they like thick wooden branches in their cage, best if they are arranged almost horizontally. Then they like to hang from these branches for moulting
  males will be adult after about 5 - 6 months (at room temperatures), females after 6 - 7 months
• a cage of 60 x 40 x 40 cm is big enough for about 3 adult females
• keep the males in a seperate cage, as they can hassle the females a lot
• for breeding, put few males in the cage with the females for some days (5-6 days). Then seperate the males again
• to enshure that the females are fertilised, this can be repeated every 5 - 6 weeks
• males often stay with one female (on her back) for some days - even after mating took place
• females start to lay eggs about 3 -4 weeks after their adult moult
• eggs are just dropped to the ground

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References

• Phasmida Species Files  (www.phasmida.orthoptera.org)