Dark-winged Stick Insect - Mesaner sarpedon

Family Diapheromeridae

This page contains pictures and information about the Dark-winged Stick Insects that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Body length 70mm, male

This is a very thin stick insect, pale mottled brown in colour with dark brown patterns along its body. We found in stick insect in Ford Road Conservation Area during mid summer Jan 2009. During summer 2008-2009, there were abundant of Tessellated Phasmatids in Brisbane's bushlands. When we saw the stick insect, We thought it was just another Tessellated Phasmatid and did not pay much attention on it. We found out it was an uncommon species when we came home and looked at the photos on larger screen.



The stick insect is mottled dark brown colour. Iits antenna is about the same length as its body.

Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 400.
2. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996, p253.
3. Sipyloidea sp. - Insects of Townsville, Australia - Graeme Cocks
4. The Complete Field Guide to Stick and Leaf Insects of Australia - Paul D. Brock and Jack W. Hasenpusch, CSIRO PUBLISHING, 2009, p39.
5. Species Mesaner sarpedon (Westwood, 1859) - Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Faunal Directory, 1997.

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