La culture des palmiers, un espoir pour la conservation du phasme menacé Apterograeffea reunionensis Cliquennois & Brock, 2002 (Phasmatodea, Phasmatidae)

Abstract

Palm plantations, an opportunity for the conservation of the critically endangered stick insect Apterograeffea reunionensis Cliquennois & Brock, 2002 (Phasmatodea, Phasmatidae). Apterograeffea reunionensis Cliquennois & Brock, 2002, is an endemic stick insect of La Réunion, endangered due to the disappearance of its biotope and the over-harvesting of its host plants, the indigenous palms of La Réunion. Twenty years after A. reunionensis was described, we carried out a range of surveying over a 21 km2 area including the type locality. Today, the study area encompasses several plantations of palms which are host plants for the stick insect. We found out that the plantations which were in direct contact with the relict forest sheltered populations of A. reunionensis. On the contrary, the farthest plantations did not show any sign of the presence of the stick insect. In the study area, the observed distribution of A. reunionensis does not show significant distinctions to the estimated distribution at the time of the description of the stick insect. However, the observation of the distribution of the stick insect on some plots allows us to detect an active progression of its distribution at the scale of the study area, albeit at a slow pace. Years of over-harvesting of palms led A. reunionensis to the brink of extinction. Today, an economy based on the cultivation of indigenous palms provides us with the hope of the preservation of this endemic stick insect of La Réunion.