''Hoploclonia gecko'' is a relatively small, spiny and darkly colored

stick insect The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida or Phasmatoptera) are an order of insects whose members are variously known as stick insects, stick bugs, walkingsticks, stick animals, or bug sticks. They are also occasionally referred to as Devil's da ...

species that is native to the northwest of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

Taxonomy

Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was an English naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, biologist and illustrator. He independently conceived the theory of evolution through natural selection; his 1858 pap ...

collected in

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

in 1858 a number ofspecimens, but did not leave any more precise information about the location.

John Obadiah Westwood John Obadiah Westwood (22 December 1805 – 2 January 1893) was an English people , English entomologist and archaeologist noted for his artistic talents. He published several illustrated works on insects and antiquities. He was among the first ...

described these the following year as ''Acanthoderus gecko''. When describing it, both males and females were available to him. Because of the

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

chosen by Westwood, it is also called "Gecko Stick Insect". In 1875

Carl Stål Carl Stål (21 March 1833 – 13 June 1878) was a Swedish people, Swedish entomologist specialising in Hemiptera. He was born at Karlberg Castle, Stockholm on 21 March 1833 and died at Frösundavik near Stockholm on 13 June 1878. He was the son ...

established the genus '' Hoploclonia'' for this species alone, which became the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

as ''Hoploclonia gecko''. The genus remained monotypical until the description of ''

Hoploclonia cuspidata ''Hoploclonia cuspidata'' is a stick insect species native to the north of Borneo and is also called Brunei Hoploclonia stick insect. Taxonomy When Josef Redtenbacher (entomologist), Josef Redtenbacher described the species in 1906, both male ...

'' in 1906. In 1995 a female of

Philip Edward Bragg Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularized the n ...

from the specimens collected by Wallace was selected as

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes ...

. It is deposited together with two male paralectotypes in the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

. Other specimens collected by Wallace are kept as paralectotypes in the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It also contains a lecture theatre which is used by the univers ...

Description

The insects, wingless in both sexes, have typical spines on their bodies like all representatives of this genus. In the long males, these are located in pairs on the head and the

thorax The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen. In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...

, but not on the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. The pair of spines on the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

is forked.

Adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...

males are dominated by a dark, mostly black-brown basic color with a bright yellow-orange to red longitudinal line, which extends from the rear edge of the pronotum to the middle of the abdomen. As with the other representatives of the genus, the areas around the coxae, as well as the

distal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...

ends of the

femurs The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg. The top of the femur fits i ...

and the

proximal Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

ends of the tibae, ie the knee area, colored light yellow to orange. The females are long. They can be colored more or less high-contrast light, dark or red-brown. They have clear spines on the thorax. On the

mesothorax The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum ( ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) ...

the first pair of spines forms a flat triangle, very broad at the base, which is much more pronounced than in other ''Hoploclonia'' species. Overall, they are very robust from the habitus. The relatively short abdomen is plump in egg-laying females and approximately cylindrical in cross-section. The end of the abdomen is formed by a short

ovipositor The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typica ...

, which is used to lay the eggs in the ground.

Distribution

''Hoploclonia gecko'' is native to the northwest of Borneo, more precisely in the far west of the Malaysian state

. The species was found here in

Bako National Park Bako National Park () is a national park in Kuching District, Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. Established in 1957, it is the oldest national park in Sarawak. It covers an area of at the tip of the Muara Tebas peninsula at the mouth of t ...

, on Mount Santubong, on Mount Serapi, in

Matang Matang ( Jawi: ماتڠ; ) is a mukim in Larut, Matang and Selama District, Perak, Malaysia. It has many small towns and villages and is located near Taiping, Simpang, Kamunting Kamunting ( Malay pronunciation: /Kemunting/) is a town in L ...

and Lingga. The main area of distribution is the area around

Kuching Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak Ri ...

, the capital of Sarawak. On Mount Santubong she was found up to a height of .

Way of life and reproduction

Like almost all stick insects, ''Hoploclonia gecko'' is nocturnal. To eat, they do not climb higher than up the food plants. The females lay their eggs with the ovipositor only a few millimeters deep in the ground. The eggs are long, high and wide. Like all ''Hoploclonia'' species, they are more arched on the dorsal side and have a lid (operculum) sloping towards the ventral side, which forms an opercular angle of less than 10 degrees. Of the three arms of the micropylar plate, one faces the lid, while the other two run laterally in the direction of the lower pole and enclose about 2/3 of the egg.

In terraristics

''Hoploclonia gecko'' was the first species of the genus that appeared in the

terrarium A terrarium ( terraria or terrariums) is a glass container containing soil and plants in an environment different from the surroundings. It is usually a sealable container that can be opened for maintenance or to access the plants inside; howeve ...

at the end of the 1980s. Philip Bragg collected some specimens in December 1987 in the Bako National Park, which he was able to successfully reproduce and spread. He brought further representatives of this species with him from Mount Serapi in 1990. The species was given PSG number 110 by the Phasmid Study Group. As with all ''Hoploclonia'' species, keeping and breeding is considered difficult. Small terrariums with higher humidity and a substrate for laying eggs are required. Leaves of

bramble ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. I ...

, other

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus '' Rosa''. The family includes herbs, shrubs, and trees. Most species are deciduous, but som ...

, as well as

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...

, ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'' and ''

Pyracantha ''Pyracantha'' (from Greek "fire" and "thorn", hence firethorn) is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to ...

'' species are accepted as food.

References

Westwood, J. O. (1859) '' Catalog of the orthopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part I. Phasmidae. '' London 1859, p. 52 & Plate XXVI: 6-7
online version
Bragg, P. E. (2001). ''Phasmids of Borneo'', Natural History Publications (Borneo) Sdn. Bhd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, pp. 110-111, pp. 120-123, '' Hoploclonia gecko '' on phasmatodea.com
by Hennemann, F. H.; Conle, O. V.; Kneubühler, B. & Valero, P. Brock, P. D.; Büscher, T. H. & Baker, E. W.
Phasmida Species File Online
'. Version 5.0. (accessdate 16 August 2021) Phasmid Study Group Culture List
/ref>

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1339372 Phasmatodea Phasmatodea of Asia Insects described in 1859