Margined-winged Stick Insect

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Margined-winged Stick Insect

Margined-winged Stick Insect

Ctenomorpha marginipennis


The males have full wings and can fly. The females are larger with dark hind wings. Their bodies resemble eucalypt twigs or stems so they camouflage well with the plants they rest on. The female lays 3 mm elliptical eggs that resemble plant seeds. The eggs drop to the forest floor during summer and hatch later the same year.


Details Description
Type
Invertebrate
Group
Insect - Stick Insect
Former Scientific Name
Ctenomorpha chronus
Identifying Characteristics

Body very narrow, up to 16 cm in length, grey-brown. Wings long and grey-brown in males and small and dark-coloured in females. Females are larger than males.

Distinctive Markings

The large grey-brown body resembles a stick.

Diet

Herbivore. Eats eucalypt leaves.

Habitat

Lives in woodlands and heathlands.

Native Status
Native to Australia
Taxonomy
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Phasmida
Family
Phasmatidae
Genus
Ctenomorpha
Species
marginipennis
Margined-winged Stick Insect
Found in Victoria, New South Wales, south-east Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

Distribution maps indicate current and historic locations where species have been sighted.

Source: Atlas of Living Australia

Conservation Status
DEPI Advisory List
Not listed
FFG Act
Not listed
EPBC Act
Not listed

The conservation status of species is listed within Victoria and Australia.

The Department of Environment and Primary Industry (DEPI) Advisory List consists of non-statutory advisory lists of rare or threatened flora and fauna within Victoria.

The Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 (FFG Act) lists threatened species in Victoria. Under the Act, an Action Statement is produced for each listed species.

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) is the Australian Government’s key piece of environmental legislation, listing nationally threatened native species and ecological communities.