Mother of creepy crawlies on show

16 October 2008 03:51pm

It looks like the kind of thing that should be kept at arms length.

At more than half a metre with legs outstretched, the mammoth creepy crawlie is the world's longest insect.

Scientists have only just twigged that the stick insect, which belongs to the Natural History Museum in London, is a new species.

No living examples of the creature have ever been seen, but they are thought to live in the tops of giant rain forest trees on the island of Borneo.

The insect, named Phobaeticus chani - meaning "Chan's megastick" - is nearly as long as a human arm, measuring 56.6 centimetres between the tips of its long spindly legs.

It is more than one centimetre longer than the previous title holder for overall length, the stick insect Phobaeticus serratipes from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Only three specimens of P. chani have been found. All were discovered dead in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo.

Dr George Beccaloni, curator of stick insects and their relatives at the Natural History Museum, said: "What seems very likely is that they live at the top of massive rainforest trees, which is why no-one has seen any of them alive. Our specimen probably fell out of a tree or died."

The stick insect, described and named for the first time this week in the journal Zootaxa, was in the hands of a private collector for 10 years before being donated to the museum. Both the other specimens are still in collections in Sabah.

Dr Beccaloni said it was highly likely the species were still living undiscovered in the remote forest canopy, but warned they may be in danger.

© The Press Association