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Achrioptera punctipes cliquennoisi
(by Bruno Kneubuehler)
 

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General Notes

• this species is named after the wellknown french phasmid taxonomist Nicolas Cliquennois
• identification by Nicolas Cliquennois
• 2007 - first successful culture of this species by Bruno Kneubuhler

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Origin

• this culture stock has been collected in March 2007 by Nicolas Cliquennois (Madagascar) and Kai Schütte (Germany) in Manompana (Tamatave, Madagascar)

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Female

• very big and beautiful creatures, about 24 - 26 cm long
• many and quite big spines on the thorax and legs
• spines often have a dark, almost black tip
• basic colour are different brown colours, with slight reddish, yellowish and blueish areas
• they are winges, but the winges are not suitable for flying
• these wings are quite often displayed when they feel threatened (like when being touched), sometimes these displays also happen without any ovious reason
• turquoise-blue antennae
• females often feed during the day, mainly in the afternoon ( 1 - 5 pm)
• they quickly stop feeding when there is a noisy environement around their cage. Therefore a living room might not be the ideal place for them
• when being picked up by hand, then they try to trap fingers between the spines on the hind legs (as a sort of defence mechanism)

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Male

• much smaller and thinner than the females, about 13 to 14 cm long
• very colourful phasmids
• very spiny in the area of the thorax and legs
• they have fully developed wings. But I could never see them flying - just something like a fluttering nosedive
• wings are even more often displayed than the females do - often when being handled, but also often without any obivious reason in their cage
• they too try to trap a potential attacker (our hands) with their spiny hind legs
• often they also feed during the day, but it seems that they do not have such specific feeding times like the females
• after the adult moult it takes quite along time until the colour is fully developed, this can take up to 3 - 4 weeks

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Eggs

• big eggs - which look very much like plant seeds
• about 10 x 5 mm
• brown or greenish-brown, with dark brown mottling
• the color of the eggs is drastically influenced by the food plant the females are feeding on. The eggs are greenish in color when the females are feeding on bramble (especially fresh ones in spring), and the eggs are brown when they are feeding on Salal

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How to distinguish A.p.cliquennoisi from A.p.punctipes

• it is very easy to distinguish adult A.p.cliquennoisi from A.p.punctipes - both males and females of A.p.punctipes have bluish-black tesselated membranous part of their hind wings. While these parts are orange-black in A.p.cliquennoisi
• the upper side of a male A.p.punctipes is mainly yellow in colour. While this is greenish-blue in A.p.cliquennoisi males
• overall males of A.p.punctipes are more colourful than males of A.p.cliquennoisi
• but it is not possible to reliably distinguish eggs and nymphs of both subspecies -they look the same. So one should make shure not to mix them up

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Food Plants

• the natural food plant is a Uapaca sp. (Familie: Phyllanthaceae)
• cut leave edges to induce feeding for stages L1 and L2 !
• often nymphs can be fed with bramble (Rubus sp.) from the beginning
• if nymphs will not accept bramble then try also other bramble species then try out other alternative food plants like:
• Salal (Gaultheria shallon), oak (Quercus sp.), raspberry (Rubus idaeus), Eucalyptus, beech (Fagus sp.), apple guava (Psidium guajava)
• by L3 or L4 it should be possible to transfer nymphs to bramble - try also different bramble species
• males usually feed nicely, also when adult
• 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 moments
• another food plant they like very much is rose apple (Syzygium jambos) - thanks to Carlos Wan (Hong Kong) for this valuable info!
  This coulud indicate that they also feed on other plants of the family Myrtaceae ....
• 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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Breeding Notes

• not a particularly easy species to be cultured, but for it´s beauty it is certainly worth a try
• I know persons who were very successful with this species, even though they did not breed any phasmids before
• on the other hand I know very experienced breeders who were not able to breed this species successfully
• incubation: HH-incubation method on slightly damp sand yields hatching ratios of 30 - 60 % (which is good enough)
• incubation time at room temperatures (20 - 23°C) is about 5 - 7 months, but it might take 8 or even more month for some nymphs to hatch
• nymphs hatch during the day, often in the early afternoon
• therefore eggs should be exposed to a day-night cycle during their incubation - so that the nymphs can hatch at the appropriate time
• keep the nymphs from the beginning in a big cage (like 60 x 40 x 40) with good ventilation
• 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 do not spray the nymphs nor adults with water
• it seems that they suffer and even die when there is not enough light. If possible put the cage in front of a window with early morning sun - this seems to be quite ideal.  Personally I can not offer this, therefore I use artificial lightening with HDI lamps ( 2 x 150 W). This seems to provide enough light for them too
• nymphs and adults often feed during the day
• also moulting takes often place during the day, therefore one should be careful not to disturb them during this crucial time (like when changing food plants)
• make shure that nymphs, which are about to undergo the adult moult, do not find places in the cage which would not offer them enough room 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 take about 4 months to get adult, females about 5 months (at room temperatures)
• adults can live for 6 or even more months
• there is no wet kitchen paper in the cage of the adults
• adults need a cage that is at least 60 x 40 x 40 cm with big ventilation areas (netting)
• a ventilator is beneficial and necessary, as the light breeze animates them to start feeding
• females start laying eggs after about 2 - 3 weeks
• eggs are just flinged away and drop to the ground

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References

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