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Sticker of Gray's haaniella
Bug card No. 2003 of 4,939

Gray's haaniella

Haaniella grayii
Name means: “named after George Robert Gray, an English naturalist”
Eats: PlantsStick and leaf insectsRainforests and jungles6 legs

Gray's haaniella is a big, spiky stick insect from the rainforests of Borneo. Its body and legs are covered in sharp spines. If something grabs it, it lifts its spiny back legs and snaps them shut like a trap.

Lives in
Borneo, in Sarawak in Malaysia and in Kalimantan in Indonesia
Length
7.8 to 14 cm (3.1 to 5.6 in)
females are much bigger than males
Top speed
about 0.27 km/h (0.17 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite
It has no venom, but its sharp spines and snapping back legs can pinch hard. Watch it without touching.
What does it eat?
Like other stick insects, it eats leaves.
For real!Photo of Gray's haaniella
Picture by Drägü. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Gray's haaniella about 14 cm long (5.6 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 13 seconds

How big is Gray's haaniella compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the biggest member of its group, the haaniellas. Females can be over 14 centimetres long.

2

Its little hind wings cannot fly. Instead it uses them to make a rasping sound.

3

Males are slimmer and more colourful, with bright green spines.

4

The female lays her hairy eggs in the ground at night. The babies can take 9 to 18 months to hatch.

5

The babies are already about 3.5 centimetres long when they hatch.

you asked

Most asked questions about Gray's haaniella

?How big is Gray's haaniella?

Females are 10 to 14 centimetres long. Males are smaller, about 8 to 9.5 centimetres.

?Is Gray's haaniella dangerous?

It has no venom, but its spines and snapping legs can pinch. Look, but do not grab it.

?Can Gray's haaniella fly?

No. Its wings are very short, and the back pair is used for making sounds.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Haaniella grayii
Named by
Westwood, 1859
Group
Stick and leaf insects
Family
Heteropterygidae
Classification
Insecta > Phasmatodea > Heteropterygidae
Lives on
Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Haaniella grayii (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 Drägü. CC BY 4.0, 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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