Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronald Brak
Titan stick insects. An exceptionally big one might be almost 30 centimeters, giving a wing span approaching half a meter. But it seems Malaysia might have the longest of all:
http://ufbir.ifas.ufl.edu/chap33.htm
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Thanks. I figured it would be a stick insect of some sort. I did some poking around and found 25cm to be an upper limit on the length (including extended legs), but I think the wingspan is going to be considerably less than their total length. See
here. The new species from Borneo,
Phoebaticus chani Hennemann and Conle, 2008, appears to measure out around 55-57 cm in total length. I'll have to see if I can get the Zootaxa article to see if the authors include wing length measurements.
Still, these are some seriously big bugs! They make our puny little North American stick insects look like stunted twigs in comparison.