Peppermint stick insect
The peppermint stick insect is a big pale green stick insect that lives on pandanus plants near tropical beaches. When it feels threatened, it sprays a smelly liquid that smells like peppermint. That is how it got its name.
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Fun facts
The females are much bigger than the males and can be almost 14 centimetres long.
It has wings but cannot fly. Scared males can parachute down to the forest floor.
Females can usually lay eggs without any males at all.
It sits on top of a leaf with its front legs stretched forward and its back legs stretched back, looking just like a twig.
It lives only in a few small places, so it is at risk of disappearing from some of them.
Most asked questions about Peppermint stick insect
?Why is it called the peppermint stick insect?
Because it sprays a liquid that smells like peppermint, and its body looks like a stick.
?Is the peppermint stick insect dangerous?
Its spray can sting your eyes and skin, so it is best to just watch it and not touch.
?What does the peppermint stick insect eat?
It eats the leaves of pandanus plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Megacrania batesii
- Named by
- Kirby, 1896
- Group
- Stick and leaf insects
- Family
- Phasmatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Phasmatodea > Phasmatidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Megacrania batesii (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Sarefo. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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