Visitors to the Tropical Rain Forest exhibit can meet a new species of stick insects here. Lobofemora scheirei was described relatively recently, in 2015, from the seasonal tropical forests of the Dong Nai Biosphere Reserve in Vietnam.
Stick insects belong to the order Phasmatodea, or Phasmida. The name of the group is derived from the Ancient Greek ‘phasma’, meaning an apparition or phantom. As the name suggests, stick insects are masters of disguise, and it is very difficult for predators to detect them. Phasmids are nocturnal animals, remaining motionless in the daytime. They are herbivorous and mostly eat leaves. The Aquarium keepers feed them the leaves of oak, raspberry, birch, St. John's wort and fern.
Lobofemora scheirei resemble brown or greenish twigs with outgrowths. The females are beige in color while the males are dark brown, but they can change their pigmentation and turn green when they are among leafy plants like ferns.
The eggs are very small and hatch after just two months. The emerging nymphs undergo several molts. The males reach the adult stage in three months and the females in four months. The female stick insects can lay up to 20 eggs a week.
The males have an additional defense mechanism. They are able to make sharp creaking sound (stridulation) by rubbing the outer margins of their leathery forewings against their hind wings.