Mearnsiana bullosa

The species, wingless and thornless in both sexes, is the most colorful of the known representatives of the family Heteropterygidae. The body surface is shiny. The 4.5 to 5.1 centimetres (1.8 to 2.0 in) long males have an olive green basic color. The joint membranes and partly also the margins of the individual segments are colored bright yellow. meso- and metathorax are colored orange-brown above and below and have two pairs of slightly darker humps on the upper side. The coloring of the upper side of the abdomen is striking. A wide yellow vertical stripe runs along its entire length, flanked by two green stripes and two red stripes towards the edge. With more than 5 centimetres (2.0 in) the antennae are good body length. At 8 to 9.8 centimetres (3.1 to 3.9 in), the females are significantly longer than the males. Their antennae are with about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in length shorter than the body. This is colored bright green or a bit more plain green-brown on the top. Legs, antennae and ovipositor are always light brown. The color of the underside varies from orange brown to slightly purple. The abdomen can swell significantly during egg production. The abdomen ends in a long, straight secondary ovipositor, which surrounds the actual ovipositor.

For a long time, Mearnsiana bullosa was only known from the Philippine province Province of Cotabato on the island of Mindanao, where it was found in the area around the volcano Mount Apo. There is now also evidence from the provinces of South Cotabato, Davao del Sur, Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur on Mindanao and from Mount Balocaue on the island of Leyte, located north of Mindanao.

The species is nocturnal like the other members of the family, but adult specimens do not hide during the day, but hang freely in the food plant. When touched, they drop to the ground and then usually start running immediately. Plants from the genus Leptospermum and Casuarina on which the animals were found belong to the natural food spectrum. The bulbous-shaped eggs are laid in the ground as a clutch of 20 to 30 eggs at intervals of 2 to 3 weeks. They are gray in color, 5.1 millimetres (0.20 in) long, about 3.7 millimetres (0.15 in) wide and have a black lid (operculum). The micropylar plate has four arms and its shape resembles a horizontally flattened "X". The two upper arms can also flow together to form a single, wider arm. After about 3 to 5 months the nymphs hatch. Their bodies and legs are very flat and almost black except for a light spot between pro- and mesonotum. At first they walk around very briskly with their abdomen rolled forward. The white margins of the abdomen on the underside are shown. This behavior only changes with the start of food intake and the nymphs, which are now gradually getting lighter, nestle flat against twigs or branches of the food plants, making them barely detectable. Older stages develop a light brown and pale green camouflage pattern, which is complemented by a kind of white lichen pattern. …