Phasmids
Phasmids knows
mimesis well. They can look like bark, leaves or twig. They are very varied
in shape and color.
They are often
easy to keep in captivity, eat leaves and are fascinating to observe.
This one is
a Hermarchus polynesicus , and the biggest
insect on earth is a phasmid : (Pharnacia
serratipes) with about 50 cm with legs.
Some species
I kept:
Acrophylla
wuelfingi (psg 13)
Anchiale maculata (psg 20)
Anisomorpha buprestoides (psg 12)
Anisomorpha monstrosa (psg 122)
Aplopus sp. (psg 48)
Aretaon asperrimus (psg 118)
Baculum extradentatum (psg 5)
Baculum insignis (psg 94)
Baculum sp. (psg 114)
Baculum thaii (psg 22)
Calynda brocki (psg 52)
Calynda sp. (psg ?)
Carausius morosus (psg 1)
Carausius sanguineoligatus (psg 66)
Creoxylus spinosus (psg 31)
Dares nolimetangere (psg 99)
Dares verrucosus (psg 69)
Diapheromera femorata (psg 35)
Dyme rarospinosa (psg 86)
Eurycantha calcarata (psg 23)
Eurycantha coriacea (psg 111)
Eurycantha sp. (psg 44)
Eurycnema herculeana (psg 28)
Extatosoma tiaratum (psg 9)
Haaniela mulleri (psg 112)
Hermarchus polynesicus (psg 57)
Heteropteryx dilatata (psg 18)
Lamponius guerini (psg 101)
Lonchodes brevipes (psg 19)
Lonchodes heamatomus (psg 36)
Necroscia sp. (psg ?)
Oreophoetes peruanas (psg 84)
Orxynes macklotti (psg 2)
Parahyrtacus gorkomi (psg 90)
Paramyronides perakensis (psg 37)
Parapachymorpha spinosa (psg 105)
Paraphasma rufipes (psg 85)
Parectatosoma hystrix (psg 133)
Phaenopharos herwaardeni (psg 104)
Pharnacia acanthopus (psg 25)
Phenacephorus cornucervi (psg 73)
Phyllium giganteum (psg 72)
Ramulus sp. (psg 102)
Raphiderus scabrosus (psg 82)
Sipyloidea sipylus (psg 4)
Sipyloidea sp. (psg 103)
Sipyloidea sp. (psg 143)
" Warty " (psg 17)
The incubations
and nymph times depends of the temperatures.
I kept
my phasmids at about 20 to 26 °C. But with higher temperatures they
will grow faster and often bigger.
About the food,
they mostly eat brambles leaves, but oak is often accepted. That was more
difficult for me to find it in winter.
A Phasmid
Study Group species list from December 97 is available here.
Eggs of all these
species (and some more) are grouped here in this image :(small
290ko, big 600ko) on a white background so
you can print it. Most are already open, so most of them are lid missing.
I simply used an A4 scanner Agfa 1212u.
A part
of the Geneva Museum phasmid collection is here.
There are lots of pictures, in a quite big format, for about 160 species.
