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Achrioptera punctipes punctipes
(by Bruno Kneubuehler)
 

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General Notes

• identification by Oskar Conle
• this species has been introduced and cultured several times in the past
• 2009 - new stock culture has been imported and successfully bred by Bruno Kneubuhler

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Origin

• this culture stock has been collected from wild caught females in March 2009. Unfortunately the origin of this stock is not known

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Female

• very big, spiny and beautiful creatures
• about 23 cm long
• numerous, 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 pink areas
• they are winged, but the wings are not suitable for flying
• membranous part of the hind wings is bluish-black tessellated
• antennae are wine-red
• wings are quite often displayed when they feel threatened (like when being touched), but sometimes these displays also happen without any obvious reason
• females often feed during the day, mainly in the afternoon ( 1 - 5 pm)
• they quickly stop feeding when there is a noisy environment and tremor around their cage. Therefore a living room is not an ideal place for them

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Male

• much smaller and thinner than the females, about 13 to 14 cm long
• very colourful phasmids (see photos)
• very spiny in the area of the thorax and legs
• they have fully developed wings. But I could never see them truly flying - just something like a fluttering nosedive
• males display their wings more often displayed than the females do - often they walk about the cage during the day with open wings. And when one tries to hold them, then they will also open their wings
• 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 3 - 4 weeks

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Eggs

• big eggs - which look very much like plant seeds
• about 9 x 4 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 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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Distinguishing A.p.punctipes from A.p.cliquennoisi

• it is very easy to distinguish adult specimens of both subspecies
• both males and females of A.p.punctipes have bluish-black tessellated membranous part of their hind wings. While these parts are orange-black in A.p.cliquennoisi males and females
• 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
• eggs and nymphs of both subspecies look the same. So one should make sure not to mix them up

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Defensive Behaviour

• when being picked up by hand (a potential predator to them), both males and females they try to trap fingers between the spines on the hind legs (as a sort of defence mechanism).
• when they feel threatened a lot (like when being grabbed), then especially the males sometimes also make a creaky noise
• if they can escape their predator (like your hand), then usually they try to crawl away quickly

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Food Plants

• the natural food plant is not known (maybe the same as for A.p.cliquennoisi)
• cut away the edges of the food plants to induce feeding for nymphs in 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. If this does not work out, 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), rose apple (Syzygium jambos; Carlos Wan, pers. comm.)
• by L3 or L4 it should be possible to transfer nymphs to bramble - try also different bramble species
• males usually feed nicely on bramble (Rubus sp.), 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 quickly - otherwise they starve to death. Salal is of great help in these moments
• 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 breed, but it is certainly worth a try
• incubation: HH-incubation on slightly damp sand gave a hatching ratio of about 30 % for the first generation
• 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
• mortality amongst nymphs was very low
• nymphs hatch during the day, mainly in the early afternoon
• keep the nymphs from the beginning in quite a big cage (60 x 40 x 40 cm is the one I use)
• take care that the humidity does not drop too low. A constantly wet paper towel on the bottom of the cage helps raising humidity
• it seems that they suffer and even die when there is not enough light. To put the cage in front of a window with early morning sun seems to be ideal. As I can not offer this, I use artificial lightening with HDI lamps ( 2 x 150 W). It seems that this is enough light for them
• nymphs also feed often during the day
• also moulting takes often place during the day (often in the morning). Therefore one should be careful not to disturb them during this crucial time (like for changing food plants, opening their cage ect)
• make sure that nymphs which are about to undergo their adult moult, do not find places to hang from 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)
• adult males live up to 4-5  months
• adult females can easily live 6 or more months
• I do not spray the cage of the nymphs or the adults
• there is not 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 does animate them to start feeding
• there should be more females than males in the cage, otherwise males can stress the females too much
• females start laying eggs after about 2 - 3 weeks after their adult moult
• they lay about 30 to 35 eggs per week
• eggs are just dropped to the ground

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References

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