Sub Family: Necrosciinae

Foodplant in captivity: Eucalyptus spp.

Humidity requirements: The species is new to me.  Mark Bushell, however, told me that they like a humid atmosphere, so I am raising the species is a tall plastic cylindrical container, which I mist weekly; the only source of ventilation is the set of small pin holes in the lid.  This leads to a fair amount of mould on the stems on the foodplant, but the A. margaritatus do not seem to mind!

Comment:  Mark also told me that his own A. margaritatus suffered a high death rate, until he stopped cleaning them out or removing the ova from the base of the cage - it appears that they are intolerant of the stress caused by being handled too much.  Therefore I tend to simply change the foodplant weekly, leaving the frass, ova and dead leaves on the base of the tank.

I only have nymphs at moment, but they're growing rapidly (Ian Abercrombie once commented that each time he sees this species in the wild, it is in the middle of moulting!)  I am noticing that some of the nymphs are pale brown-coloured, and some are various shades of blue/ green; I  don't know what the adults look like so I don't know whether it is simply that the sexes are coloured differently (i.e. sexually dichromatic).