The Pink Wing Stick Insect (Sipyloidea sipylus) is a phasmid insect in the Sipyloidea family of stick insects. It is also known as the Madagascan Stick Insect. It is related to the Praying Mantis.
The Pink Wing Stick Insect is long, thin and stick-like. It has a light-brown body that is camouflaged to look like dry straw, or dry grass. Both the male and the female have wings, but the wings of the female are too small for flying.
It grows to about 20 centimetres (8 inches) long. The male is smaller and thinner than the female.
It is native to Madagascar, tropical Asia, and parts of south-east Asia. It is the most widespread phasmid in the world.
It is herbivorous, eating plant material.
It is mainly nocturnal, active at night.
The female Pink Wing Stickbreeds parthenogenically, meaning that she lays eggs that hatch without being fertilized. The female lays 100-1,200 eggs on the ground or on a plant. The eggs hatch after about 120 days. The young Pink Wing Stick Insect is called a nymph. It is born bright green.
[Location of photographs: Tashkent Zoo, Uzbekistan]
Photographer: Martina Nicolls
Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM