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Sticker of Prickly haaniella
Bug card No. 3412 of 4,939

Prickly haaniella

Haaniella echinata
Name means: “like a sea urchin, after its spiny body”
Eats: PlantsStick and leaf insectsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The prickly haaniella is a big, chunky stick insect from the island of Borneo. Its body is covered in sharp spines, even on its head. Hidden under its legs are bright turquoise-blue patches that you only see when you look underneath.

Lives in
Northern Borneo, in rainforests and hills up to 800 metres high
Length
7 to 14 cm (2.8 to 5.3 in)
females are much bigger than males
Top speed
about 0.26 km/h (0.16 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Not dangerous, but its spiny back legs can give a sharp pinch if you grab it, so just watch it.
What does it eat?
Like other stick insects, it munches on leaves.
For real!Photo of Prickly haaniella
Picture by Drägüs. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Prickly haaniella about 14 cm long (5.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 4 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handcould run across a dinner table in 14 seconds

How big is Prickly haaniella compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It comes out at night.

2

When something attacks it, it lifts its spiny back legs, spreads them wide and snaps them shut on the enemy.

3

The mother pushes her eggs into the ground. Each egg can be up to 12 millimetres long.

4

The babies hatch after 6 to 12 months and are already about 37 millimetres long. They are some of the biggest insect babies there are.

5

It takes another 10 to 12 months for a baby to grow into an adult.

you asked

Most asked questions about Prickly haaniella

?How big is the prickly haaniella?

Females are 9 to 13.5 centimetres long. Males are smaller, 7 to 9.5 centimetres.

?Is the prickly haaniella dangerous?

No, it has no venom. But its spiny back legs can pinch, so it is better to watch it than to hold it.

?Where does the prickly haaniella live?

In the north of Borneo, in Brunei and the Malaysian part of the island.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Haaniella echinata
Named by
Redtenbacher, 1906
Group
Stick and leaf insects
Family
Heteropterygidae
Classification
Insecta > Phasmatodea > Heteropterygidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Haaniella echinata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Drägüs. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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