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MALAYSIAN JUNGLE NYMPH aka GIANT THORNY PHASMIDHeteropteryx dilatata©Adrian Pingstone The females of this species are very aggressive and should be approached cautiously. When threatened, the female insect will hiss and attempt to thrash the aggressor with her legs, the male will play dead. Found in the the jungles of Malaysia, they eat bramble, oak and other leaves. A mature female has a bright, light green color and a length of about 7 inches (18 cm). She can’t fly, but uses her small, pinkish colored wings to make a startling hissing sound, or hides them under leaflike wing cases. Her abdomen broadens from a slender mesothorax, then narrows to a point. A slight, toothed flare along each side of her exoskeleton, plus many thornlike spines dotting her body and legs, effectively mimic thorny vegetation. Males are smaller, growing to about 4 inches (10 cm) in length, and can fly. Brown wing cases with a bark-like appearance cover their mottled brown, cylindrical bodies and conceal large, reddish-purple wings. Both males and females have thin antennae, small heads and strong legs. Fascinating Facts These insects can snap the two long sections of a rear leg together to defend themselves with a powerful, barbed pinch! A young phasmid that loses a leg can regenerate a new, useful, but smaller leg at its next molt! Some phasmids can reproduce asexually! In a process called parthenogenesis, the females lay eggs that are clones of themselves! Fact Source: http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=482 Other Photo you may like: Chan’s Megastick Childrens Stick (wings closed) and wings open Walking Leaves

MALAYSIAN JUNGLE NYMPH aka GIANT THORNY PHASMID
Heteropteryx dilatata
©Adrian Pingstone

The females of this species are very aggressive and should be approached cautiously. When threatened, the female insect will hiss and attempt to thrash the aggressor with her legs, the male will play dead. Found in the the jungles of Malaysia, they eat bramble, oak and other leaves.

A mature female has a bright, light green color and a length of about 7 inches (18 cm). She can’t fly, but uses her small, pinkish colored wings to make a startling hissing sound, or hides them under leaflike wing cases. Her abdomen broadens from a slender mesothorax, then narrows to a point. A slight, toothed flare along each side of her exoskeleton, plus many thornlike spines dotting her body and legs, effectively mimic thorny vegetation. Males are smaller, growing to about 4 inches (10 cm) in length, and can fly. Brown wing cases with a bark-like appearance cover their mottled brown, cylindrical bodies and conceal large, reddish-purple wings. Both males and females have thin antennae, small heads and strong legs.

Fascinating Facts

  • These insects can snap the two long sections of a rear leg together to defend themselves with a powerful, barbed pinch!
  • A young phasmid that loses a leg can regenerate a new, useful, but smaller leg at its next molt!
  • Some phasmids can reproduce asexually! In a process called parthenogenesis, the females lay eggs that are clones of themselves!

Fact Source: http://www.zoo.org/page.aspx?pid=482

Other Photo you may like:

Chan’s Megastick

Childrens Stick (wings closed) and wings open

Walking Leaves

Notes

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  12. garytheduck2 reblogged this from animalworld and added:
    PHASMID translates roughly to potato bug.
  13. sujinja reblogged this from animalworld and added:
    eeewww
  14. jaggedhawk reblogged this from animalworld and added:
    me, I will THROW THIS AT YOUR FACE.
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