Acrophylla titan (Macleay, 1826)

Common Name:

Identification:

Length: 25cm, the longest Australian species

Coloring:

Note any distinguishing features.

volant; male and female mesopterous (from Balderson et al 1998).

spiny, Acrophylla titan of the eastern coast, with large mottled wings in both sexes and wavy-margined, three-ridged cerci. (from Key, 1991)

Photo: P. Miller

Female: The general colour of the wings is blackish-brown, but irregularly spotted and banded with white; the costal area is of a greenish-black irregularly spotted with testaceous and has the base red. The tegmina are similar to the last in colour and markings, but with a white spot near the centre of each; the head and prothorax are of a greyish colour; the former has three distinct stemmata in front; the mesothorax is reddish, but with scattered sharp tubercles; the abdomen is orange, with the tip and leaflets of a grey colour, the latter rather short in proportion to those which some species possess, and are quite differently formed from the others, being trigonal and dentated; the legs are also short and very much dentated, but the fore ones are trilateral. (from Gray, 1833)

Photo: P. Miller

Male: The male is thinner and broadly similar, with full size wings. The thorax is brownish and the tubercles more numerous and spine-like. Males are very good fliers. (from Brock, 1994.)

Nymph: Nymphs are often green, but sometimes brown; there may be a bold white longitudinal stripe along the whole length of the body. (from Brock, 1994.)

Key 1991

Campbell & Hadlington, 1967

Females flick their eggs to the ground which may mean they travel several feet from the tree below and ensure a better survival rate rather than if the eggs were simply dropped directly below the insect. Eggs have a conspicuous "capitulum" or knob on the operculum. (from Brock, 1994.)

In addition, A. titan may hold the record for fecundity. Two captive females laid 4104 eggs during their lifetimes with a total of 178 eggs laid in a single week by the two (Brock, 1994). In nature females flick their eggs to the ground away from the base of the host tree. The capitulum on the surface of the egg is attractive to ants, which carry the eggs away and bury them.

Habitat:

Arborial. Bribie Island Pine, Callistemon. Usually high in the tree.

Similar Species:

Rearing Notes:

PSG notes indicate the following foodplants have been used successfully in captivity: Eucalyptus, Bramble, Raspberry, Rose.

For a stick insect with body length 220mm, to keep 2 adult females, you need a cage at least 900mm high, 400mm deep and 550mm wide.

Range:

Status:

References

• Balderson, J., Rentz, D.C.F. and Roach, A.M.E. (1998). in Houston, W.K.K. & Wells, A. (1998) (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Vol. 23. Archaeognatha, Zygentoma, Blattodea, Isoptera, Mantodea, Dermaptera, Phasmatodea, Embioptera, Zoraptera. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, Australia (ISBN 0643 06035 9). pp. 347 - 376.
• Banks, C.B. (1992). Notes on egg-laying in an australian stick-insect (Phasmatodea). Victorian Entomologist, 22(5), October 1992, pp. 116-117.
• Bedford, G.O. (1978). Biology and ecology of the Phasmatodea. Ann. Rev. Entomol. 23: 125-149
• Brewster, M.N., Brewster, A.A. and Crouch, N. (1946). Family Phasmidæ (Leaf and Stick Insects). In Life Stories of Australian Insects. Sydney: Lake & Ashes. 2nd Edition. pp. 26-31
• Bruins, E. (1999). The Complete Encyclopedia of Terrarium. Grange Books.
• Brock, P.D. (1994). Giant Stick Insects in Australia: Notes on Acrophylla titan (Macleay). Amateur Entomol. Soc. Bull., 53: 61-67
• Campbell, K. G., Hadlington, P., 1967. The biology of the three species of phasmatids which occur in plague numbers in forests of south eastern Australia. Forestry Commission NSW Res. Note No. 20, 38 pp.
• Clark, J.T. (1976). The eggs of stick insects (Phasmida): a review with descriptions of the eggs of eleven species. Syst. Ent. 1: 95-105.
• Gray, G.R. (1833). The Entomology of Australia in a Series of Monographs. Part 1. The monograph of the genus Phasma. London: Longman & Co. 28 pp. 8 pls
• Gray, G.R. (1834). Descriptions of several species of Australian Phasmata. Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, i, 1 (November 7), pp. 45-46.
• Gray, G.R. (1835). ‘Synopsis of the Species of Insects Belonging to the Family of Phasmidae.’ 48pp. (Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman: London.)
• Harman (1999). Some Notes on rearing Acrophylla titan PSG 154, Phasmid Studies, ISSN 0268-3806, March-1999, No 78, p. 11
• Heather, N.W. (1965). Studies on female genitalia of Queensland Phasmida, Journal of the Entomological Society of Queensland, 4: 33-38.
• Hughes, R.D. (1975). Living Insects, William CollinsSydney, ISBN 0 00 211437 2
• Hughes, L., 1996. When an Insect is more like a Plant. Nature Australia, 25(4): 30-38
• Key, K.H.L. (1991). Phasmatodea (Stick-insects). pp. 394-404 in CSIRO (ed.) The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, Vol. 1, 2nd Edn.
• Kirby, Rev. W. and Spence, W. (1826a). An Introduction to Entomology: or Elements of the Natural History of Insects. 8vo. London. 4 vols. illustr. Volume Three
• Macleay, W.S. (1826). Annulosa. Catalogue of Insects, collected by Captain King, R.N. In Captain Phillip P. King, Narrative of a survey of the Intertropical, and Western Coasts of Australia performed between the years 1818 and 1822. With an appendix, containing various subjects relating to hydrography and natural history. Vol. 2, appendix B, pp. 438-69, Table B. J. Murray, London. viii+637 p. (15 April)
• Musgrave, A. (1922). Stick and Leaf Insects, Australian Museum Magazine, October, 1922, pp. 171-181
• Rainbow, W.J. (1897). Catalogue of the described Phasmidae of Australia. Records of the Australian Museum, 3(2), 37-44. [Note that he made a mistake re Extatosoma popa and E. tiaratum according to Gurney, A.B. (1947). Notes on some remarkable Australasian walkingsticks, including a synopsis of the Genus Extatosoma (Orthoptera: Phasmatidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 40(3): 373-396. .]
• Rentz, D.C.F (1996). Grasshopper Country, Chapter 16, Phasmatodea: Leaf and Stick Insects, pp. 244-257
• Tepper, J.G.O. (1902). List of the Described Genera and Species of the Australian and Polynesian Phasmidæ (Spectre-Insects). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 26: 278-287.
• Vickery, V.R. (1983). Catalogue of Australian stick insects (Phasmida, Phasmatodea, Phasmatoptera, or Cheleutoptera). CSIRO Australian Division of Entomology Technical Paper, No. 20, 15 pp.
• Search Google for Acrophylla titan, or search Google Scholar for Acrophylla titan.

Phasmid Study Group

Synonyms

• Phasma titan Macleay, 1826
• Phasma australensis Kirby and Spence, 1826 (This synonym is odd, the cross reference is from Gray 1833, and the only indication that this is even the right species is the length. I suspect that Macleay was showing off this specimen for several years before he eventually described it. Kirby and Spence evidently had their own name for it, but the absence if an "N.S." notation makes me wonder if they thought they had already described it elsewhere?)
• Diura titan Gray, 1833
• Vetilia titan Clark, 1976 (an incorrect reference)

Copyright © 2000-2003 Peter Miller This page was last changed 20-Sep-2006.