Insects present in the Butterfly House of Collodi
Leaf-cutting ants (Atta Cephalotes, Linnaeus 1758)
Provenance: Amazonia
The Atta ants subsist almost exclusively on a particular species of fungus which they cultivate on a medium of masticated leaf tissue. A colony of leaf-cutting ants can reach 1 million individuals. This species has a high degree of polymorphism, with different castes consisting of minims (or 'garden ants'), minors, mediae and majors (soldiers). When young the minor ants work within the nest, while the older minors climb on the cut sections of leaf whilst they are carried back to the nest to protect the bearers from the attack of parasitic flies.
Vietnamese stick insect (Baculum extradentatum, Brunner 1907)
Provenance: South East Asia
The stick insect belongs to the Phasmida family along with at least another 2,500 species, mostly of tropical distribution. Belonging to this same group is the longest insect of all, the Pharnacia serratipes of Indonesia which can reach a length of 33 centimetres. This species features sexual dimorphism, that is the female is different from the male, which is more slender with a swelling in the terminal section of the abdomen. The eggs resemble small seeds. The Phasmida can regenerate bodily appendages, and reproduction can take place even by parthenogenesis, without the intervention of the males.
Giant Prickly Stick Insect (Extatosoma tiaratum, Macleay 1826)
Provenance: Australia
This species imitates dry vegetation, but if disturbed it curls its tail like a scorpion. It flicks its eggs into the soil, and they are often carried off by ants which mistake them for seeds. The newly-hatched insects are a carbon copy of the ants of Leptomyrmex genus, in particular the L. dalingtoni. They have red heads and black bodies and keep their abdomens curled up as they walk rapidly.
Peruvian Cockroach (Archimandrita tessellata, Rhen 1903)
Provenance: South and Central America. This is one of the largest and most robust cockroaches. The young neanids do not have wings, and the neanids and nymphs are of a blackish brown colour. The males are longer and more slender than the females. By day the young normally remain hidden. Despite its wings, this species cannot fly very well, because it is very heavy. The present-day cockroaches are a type of living fossil, identical to their ancestors who lived over 250 million years ago.
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