Common Name:
Delete this section if there is no common name.
Identification:
Males have fully developed wings, whereas females are micropterous,
with small lanceolate wings, and incapable of flight.
| (mm) |
Male |
Feale |
| Body length |
44.6-46.5 |
55.5-63.0 |
| Head length |
2.7-3.0 |
3.5-3.8 |
| Tegmen length |
2.3-2.5 |
2.1-2.4 |
| Wing length |
22.0-24.8 |
2.6 |
| Cercus length |
1.6-1.9 |
1.0-1.1 |
The body colour of both sexes is typically pale greyish green.
Size small, form slender, delicate.
Two stripes and furrows may, or may not, be present on the posterior
portion of the head. Rarely, the dorsum of the head and the base of the
legs have an orange tinge. In both sexes, the tegmen is a small round pad
with a dark brown or black patch dorsally, with or without grey spots.
Typically, a tubercular protrusion is located dorsally on the tegmen
and accommodates the basal portion of the wing sclerites ventrally.
The legs are brownish or greenish brown, somewhat darker near the junction
of the femur and tibia, but without any form of banding. Nocturnal.
Male
In the male the wing has a light grey-green anterior border (remigium).
The remainder of the wing is pink to purple, this being somewhat variable;
in every case the basal portion is much darker. The fully alate males
are highly vagile and are commonly attracted to sources of light at night.
Subgenital plate short, apex broad; vomer narrow, shoulders narrow,
narrower than S. nelida; tooth elongate, surface regularly shagreened.
Tenth tergite with teeth minute, few in number. Cercus short, robust.
Female
The tiny female wing is grey or greenish grey on the remigium. Dorsally
it is inconspicuous, but when an individual is disturbed it spreads its
wings and reveals the intense, dark rosy pink coloration of the vannus.
Wing very short, apically rounded, neither wing touching the other.
Subgenital plate relatively elongate, apex acute. Tenth tergite
concealing most of cercus. Cercus very slender, delicate, very short.
Eggs
The egg is approx 0.9mm in diameter and 3.1mm long. The behaviour in
laboratory cultures indicates that the eggs are deposited in the soil.
Habitat:
Inhabits the dry interior of the continent, where it lives on Mulga,
Acacia aneura. Nocturnal. During the day, males and females
hang motionless in the shelter of the leaves of their host plant.
Similar Species:
The other members of the Nelida group:
Sipyloidea nelida
and
Sipyloidea similis.
Rearing Notes:
Rentz and John reared this species in the laboratory for cytological
studies. Few details were given. They were all successfully fed and
reared on Acacia longifolia var. soforae (Labill) F. Muell.
For a stick insect with body length 46.5mm, to keep 2 adult females,
you need a cage at least 250mm high, 100mm deep and 100mm wide.
Range:
S Gulfs, SA
Status:
It is not known if this species is endangered,
as there is insufficient sighting history.
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.
-
John, B., Rentz, D.C.F. & Contreras, N. (1987).
Extensive chromosome variation in the stick insect genus Sipyloidea
Brunner von Wattenwyl (Phylliidae: Necrosciinae) within Australia, and
descriptions of three new species.
Invertebrate Taxonomy, 1: 603-630
-
Rentz, D.C.F (1996).
Grasshopper Country,
Chapter 16,
Phasmatodea: Leaf and Stick Insects,
pp. 244-257
- Search Google for
Sipyloidea ovabdita,
or search Google Scholar for
Sipyloidea ovabdita.
Copyright © 2000-2003
Peter Miller
This page was last changed 20-Sep-2006.
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