Mondo Knows Facts
The longest insect measures over 60 centimetres
A stick insect from China, Phryganistria chinensis, holds the record
A specimen reared by Chinese researchers reached 62.4 centimetres with its legs outstretched, longer than a human forearm. Stick insects gain length through camouflage rather than armour, and their bodies resemble twigs closely enough to defeat most predators. Several similar species compete for the record.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: insects, stick insect, china
The longest insect measures over 60 centimetres: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- A stick insect from China, Phryganistria chinensis, holds the record. The figure is taken from Natural History Museum, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a records & extremes fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Records & Extremes shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.