A stick insect, pictured with other smaller ones at the Insect Museum of West China in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan province, was photographed on June 28, 2015, and released to AFP on May 6, 2016.
Photo: AFP
A stick insect more than 1.6 ft. long discovered in southern China two years ago has been declared the world’s longest insect by Chinese authorities, says state media Xinhua News Agency.
The 24.6-in. stick insect, found in the southern province of Guangxi, broke the record for length among the world’s 807,625 known insects, Xinhua said, citing the Insect Museum of West China.
The previous record-holder was a Malaysian 22.3-in. stick insect discovered in 2008, which is now on display at London’s Natural History Museum.
Tipped off by locals, scientist Zhao Li had been searching for the bug for six years before he captured one, according to The Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“I was collecting insects on a 1,200-meter-tall (3,937-ft.-tall) mountain in Guangxi’s Liuzhou City on the night of Aug. 16, 2014, when a dark shadow appeared in the distance, which looked like a tree twig,” Zhao told Xinhua. “As I went near, I was shocked to find the huge insect’s legs were as long as its body.”
The bug has been dubbed Phryganistria chinensis Zhao in his honor, and a paper about it will soon be published, AFP says.
Leave A Comment