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Hermarchus leytensis
(by Bruno Kneubuehler)

General Notes

Origin

new culture stock has been collected by Dave Navarro on Mt. Apo (Mindanano, Philippines) in April 2008
this species is also known from Mount Balocaue (Leyte, Philippines)

Female

about 13 - 15 cm in length
quite sturdy phasmids
the whole body is coloured in a light green
females do (generally) not react as frantically when being touched as the males. But they too let themselves fall down quite regularely when being handled, and this might lead to injured females

Male

about 9,5 cm long
thin phasmids
males react very frantically when being touched and will wriggle about like in an epileptic state. This might already happen if only the cage is being opened up

Eggs

they get mouldy very quickly - even if there are spring tails in the incubation substrat
but the eggs hatch nonetheless

Food Plants

I have fed nymphs and adults of the 3. generation on bramble (Rubus sp.) exclusively
but they do not like (or even refuse to fed on) fresh bramble leaves in spring. Therefore one should feed them on bramle leaves of the previous year for as long as possible
other food plants are Hypericum and Salal (Gaultheria shallon), haselnut (Corylus avellana), oak (Quecus sp.), raspberry (Rubus idaeus) and beech (Fagus sylvatica)
M. Gottardo (2008) also mentiones Guava (Psidium guajava) as a food plant

Breeding Notes

an easy to breed, big and interesting species - as they show a very pronounced sexual dimorphism
just the very fidgety behaviour (especially of the males) when being touched will test the breeder's patience
incubation: HH-inkubation method on slightly damp sand yields good hatching ratios
despite the springtails, eggs of this species tend to get mouldy very quickly, still the nymphs hatch nicely
incubation time at room temperatures (20-23°C) is about 2,5 - 3 months
hatching ratio of my first two generations was high (75%)
keep the nymphs in a cage with good ventilation and still high humidity, a constantly wet paper towel on the cage helps raising humidity
small nymphs can be kept in a Faunabox (or similar cage)
move nymphs to a bigger cage as they grow bigger
if there are too many nymphs in the same cage, many will soon be crippeled (lost legs)
thus one should really take care not to overcrowed the cage
I have never sprayed nymphs or adults with water
male will be adult after about 3 months (at room temperatures), females after about 3,5 months
females start to lay eggs after about 2-3 weeks
eggs are just dropped to the ground
they lay up to 140 eggs per female and week

References

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