New Zealand giant stick insect
The New Zealand giant stick insect looks just like a twig. It can be pale white, grey, green-brown or dark brown, and the tops of its two front legs are pink or purple. The females are big and have little spikes on their backs.
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Fun facts
The biggest females grow up to 20 centimetres, which makes it the longest insect in New Zealand.
In some places there are only females. They can lay eggs that hatch without any dad at all.
The mother simply drops her eggs to the ground, where they look just like plant seeds.
It is mostly awake at night, when the males go looking for females.
Its babies look like tiny grown-ups and change their skin six times as they grow.
Most asked questions about New Zealand giant stick insect
?How big is the New Zealand giant stick insect?
Females are usually 12 to 15 centimetres long, and the biggest reach 20 centimetres. Males are thinner and shorter.
?What does the New Zealand giant stick insect eat?
Leaves of plants such as brambles, ramarama and climbing rātā.
?Is the New Zealand giant stick insect dangerous?
No. It is a gentle leaf eater and cannot hurt you.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Argosarchus horridus
- Group
- Stick and leaf insects
- Family
- Phasmatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Phasmatodea > Phasmatidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- New Zealand bristly stick insect
Where the facts come from
- Argosarchus (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 Biodiversity Heritage Library E.W. Janson (1822-1891). Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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