Brasidas foveolatus

Description

Brasidas foveolatus is a species of stick insects from the family Heteropterygidae. Next to Brasidas samarensis it is one of the most famous representatives of the genus Brasidas. In habitus the species corresponds to typical representatives of the Obrimini e.g. Trachyaretaon or Obrimus species. As with all Brasidas species, Brasidas foveolatus also has a pair of characteristic holes in the metasternum. At around 80 to 95 millimetres (3.1 to 3.7 in) in length, the females are significantly larger and plump than the approx. 55 to 65 millimetres (2.2 to 2.6 in) long males. In both sexes, brown, more rarely olive-brown colors dominate. The more vividly drawn and more variable females can show light, mostly greenish areas, especially on the lateral and rear edge of the metanotum. Furthermore, numerous black tubercles on the head and the thorax are clearly differentiated from the brown base color. Often there is also an almost white area that extends from the middle of the sixth to almost the entire width of the seventh abdominal segment. There is almost always a pair of black spots on the eighth segment. With this combination of colors, the end of the abdomen, together with the ovipositor, is reminiscent of a head, more precisely a bird's head. Occasionally there are also females who wear a wide, white longitudinal band over the entire body on a brown background, which is then also supplemented by the black spots on the eighth segment of the abdomen. Adult males are mostly monochrome brown and like the females only slightly prickly. The 4 to 5 millimetres (0.16 to 0.20 in) long and 2 to 3 millimetres (0.079 to 0.118 in) wide eggs are laid in the ground as with all Obrimini by means of the ovipositor at the end of the abdomen. Their eggshell (exochorion) is gray and becomes darker when the humidity is higher and lighter again when it is dry. The dorsal area is bulging and the lid (operculum), which is always dark gray sits on the egg, sloping towards the ventral side, so that an opercular angle of about 10 degrees is created. The nymphs hatch from the eggs after about four months and then need another four months to grow.