Wülfing's stick insect
Wülfing's stick insect is a huge stick insect from Australia with a long, thin body like a twig. Many parts of its body are covered in small spines. It hangs perfectly still among the leaves, so it is very hard to spot.
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Fun facts
The females can grow up to 23 centimetres long.
Both males and females get wings, but the big heavy females cannot fly. The males can fly, but only for short trips.
Instead of flying away, it often flashes its wings to give a hungry animal a fright.
It only moves now and then to eat. The rest of the time it hangs inside or under the leaves.
It even turns up in town gardens, not just in the rainforest and bushland.
Most asked questions about Wülfing's stick insect
?How big is Wülfing's stick insect?
Males are 9 to 15 centimetres long and females 18 to 23 centimetres, without counting their legs.
?Can Wülfing's stick insect fly?
The males can fly short distances. The females have wings too, but they are too big and heavy to fly.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Acrophylla wuelfingi
- Group
- Stick and leaf insects
- Family
- Phasmatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Phasmatodea > Phasmatidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Giant northern stick insect
Where the facts come from
- Acrophylla wuelfingi (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 Pawelec. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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