The newly described stick insect Phryganistria heusii yentuensis is over a foot long (32cm), or 21 inches (54 cm) with its front legs stretched out. It’s the second biggest living insect that has been described. Ever.
Walking sticks are a group of leaf-eating insects that look like … well, sticks and twigs. They are not easy animals to study. Researchers from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) captured the new species in Vietnam.
Catching and observing walking sticks is especially difficult because they are mostly active at night. And by “active,” please understand I mean lumbering along slowly while pretending to be branches swaying in the breeze.
Insex. Insects. Sex.
Male and female Phryganistria heusii yentueensis having sex. Note how small the male is compared to the female. Bresseel & Constant, RBINS
The new walking stick species were found using a classic entomological technique: beating. It involves a really large stick and a bed sheet. You put the sheet on the ground and whack a bush with your stick. Many insects release their grip and play dead when disturbed, and so drop onto your sheet for easy retrieval.
Alas, the researchers haven’t responded to my inquiry about what words they said (or at what volume) when these huge insects flopped out of the undergrowth. I suspect some rather strong language was used.
It’s Harder to Tell Sticks Apart Than You Think
Stick insects have sexual dimorphism, a fancy way of saying males and females differ remarkably in size and color. It’s not uncommon for female stick insects to be twice the size of males.
The research wasn’t just collecting new insects; old preserved specimens were also examined. Museum specimens (and their confusing, hand-written labels from 100 years ago in a variety of languages) housed in Russia, China, the US, and other spots around the globe were examined.
Because the sexes vary so much, and there are lots of big sticky things in Asian forests, early collectors tended to decide each new big bug they found was a new species. This current research tried to figure out which specimens actually belonged to the same species.
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