Species introCountry intro
Stick Insect, Phasmid - Phobaeticus kirbyi
Male Phasmid of the species Phobaeticus kirbyi. It has very long and slender body and even longer legs. The body is around 18 cm. Females of this species can grow up to 30 cm in body length and at one time was recorded as the second longest Phasmid in the world, but now its the 3rd longest after a new species of Phasmid from China was described earlier this year.
''Phobaeticus kirbyi'' is a very long stick insect native to Borneo. The holotype deposited at the Natural History Museum in London measures 328 mm excluding legs and 546 mm including legs. This makes it the second-longest known insect in terms of body length, behind ''Phobaeticus chani'' with 357 mm . Both ''P. chani'' and ''Phobaeticus serratipes'' exceed it in total length with legs extended. However, recent specimens of ''P. kirbyi'' have only reached 283 mm in body length.
