Staehilomyces
Arachnoprince
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2016
- Messages
- 1,514
Hey everyone, thought I'd devote this thread to my captive breeding project involving the endemic Australian katydid species Acripeza reticulata. They are commonly known as the Mountain Katydid, as many populations reside at high altitudes, although mine came from a lower elevation bushland reserve just outside Brisbane city in South East Queensland.
These katydids exhibit a very substantial degree of sexual dimorphism. Below are photos of some wild adult females both in situ and on my hand to give a sense of scale.
The males of this species look markedly different, possessing smaller bodies and large, functional wings that allow them to fly in short bursts, unlike the completely flightless females. Males are also capable of calling, while the females are mute.
Here is a photo of a late-stage nymph, likely just one molt away from adulthood. Currently, it is the only nymph of this species I have ever found in the wild; all the rest were adults.
Acripeza reticulata is one of Australia's most iconic insect species, largely due to its absolutely spectacular threat display. The revelation of the vivid colours beneath the animals' wings can be startling to predators, and may buy the katydid time to escape while its attacker is momentarily shocked.
Now, onto the breeding part! Knowing most wild adult females would have likely already mated, I didn't bother going through the trouble of trying to locate a male, which are encountered far less often. Instead, I caught myself a couple of adult females, and once settled in, they wasted no time laying their eggs! Several of the eggs can be seen in this image, attached to the mesh lid of the enclosure. Most of the eggs were laid on the stems of the vines I had been feeding them. The green katydid is a Torbia viridissima, a species of which I have two recently hatched nymphs and a handful of eggs.
While most populations of this species feed almost exclusively on Senecio plants, the ones around my area feed on a leafy vine called Parsonsia straminea, which can be seen in the background in some of the attached photos. The ones around my area also seem to be arboreal, unlike most other populations, which are predominantly terrestrial. These differences in diet and behaviour could be due to reproductive isolation (this population is surrounded by urban areas on all sides and completely detached from adjacent populations with more "normal" habits) and/or exposure to different selection pressures, as the conditions are rather different at these low elevations.
Having been told that katydid eggs can take over a year to hatch, I didn't have the highest hope. However, I decided to do what some Phasmid breeders do to accelerate development, and keep the eggs warm and moist, by taking them out in the sun every morning, and misting the incubating enclosure regularly. Only a couple months or so after I saw the first eggs being laid, I found a newly hatched nymph in the incubation enclosure. The nymph was pink at first, but after a couple hours its exoskeleton had hardened and it turned black.
It has been feeding well on soft, fresh leaves from the same vine species that the adults eat. And this morning, I woke up to find a second nymph had hatched! Many more of the eggs are starting to look bloated (when freshly laid, they're quite flat), so I'm sure there'll be plenty more soon!
Well, that's it for this post, and I'll be keeping you all updated on how this project goes. If you're interested, and haven't seen it yet, here is a YouTube video of mine showing a wild adult female:
And another video showing one of the captive females alongside two other species, Ephippitytha trigintiduoguttata and Torbia viridissima, the former of which I also have many eggs from:
These katydids exhibit a very substantial degree of sexual dimorphism. Below are photos of some wild adult females both in situ and on my hand to give a sense of scale.
The males of this species look markedly different, possessing smaller bodies and large, functional wings that allow them to fly in short bursts, unlike the completely flightless females. Males are also capable of calling, while the females are mute.
Here is a photo of a late-stage nymph, likely just one molt away from adulthood. Currently, it is the only nymph of this species I have ever found in the wild; all the rest were adults.
Acripeza reticulata is one of Australia's most iconic insect species, largely due to its absolutely spectacular threat display. The revelation of the vivid colours beneath the animals' wings can be startling to predators, and may buy the katydid time to escape while its attacker is momentarily shocked.
Now, onto the breeding part! Knowing most wild adult females would have likely already mated, I didn't bother going through the trouble of trying to locate a male, which are encountered far less often. Instead, I caught myself a couple of adult females, and once settled in, they wasted no time laying their eggs! Several of the eggs can be seen in this image, attached to the mesh lid of the enclosure. Most of the eggs were laid on the stems of the vines I had been feeding them. The green katydid is a Torbia viridissima, a species of which I have two recently hatched nymphs and a handful of eggs.
While most populations of this species feed almost exclusively on Senecio plants, the ones around my area feed on a leafy vine called Parsonsia straminea, which can be seen in the background in some of the attached photos. The ones around my area also seem to be arboreal, unlike most other populations, which are predominantly terrestrial. These differences in diet and behaviour could be due to reproductive isolation (this population is surrounded by urban areas on all sides and completely detached from adjacent populations with more "normal" habits) and/or exposure to different selection pressures, as the conditions are rather different at these low elevations.
Having been told that katydid eggs can take over a year to hatch, I didn't have the highest hope. However, I decided to do what some Phasmid breeders do to accelerate development, and keep the eggs warm and moist, by taking them out in the sun every morning, and misting the incubating enclosure regularly. Only a couple months or so after I saw the first eggs being laid, I found a newly hatched nymph in the incubation enclosure. The nymph was pink at first, but after a couple hours its exoskeleton had hardened and it turned black.
It has been feeding well on soft, fresh leaves from the same vine species that the adults eat. And this morning, I woke up to find a second nymph had hatched! Many more of the eggs are starting to look bloated (when freshly laid, they're quite flat), so I'm sure there'll be plenty more soon!
Well, that's it for this post, and I'll be keeping you all updated on how this project goes. If you're interested, and haven't seen it yet, here is a YouTube video of mine showing a wild adult female:
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