Indian Stick Insect (Carausius morosus)

The Indian stick insect – species name Carausius morosus– is sometimes known as the laboratory stick insect. Native to India, these nocturnal, wingless insects can grow to a length of 10 cm (female) – the adult males come in a little shorter at around 5.5 cm.

The Indian stick insect can vary in colour from a light green to a dark brown. It enjoys many types of leaves for sustenance, but it prefers privet, ivy, hawthorn, pyracantha, bramble, rose, raspberry, ligustrum, oak, and hazel.

They can reproduce parthenogenically or sexually. Parthenogenesis always produces female clones of the mother. This also means that males can only be produced via sexual reproduction. The eggs are brown in colour once laid and have an incubation period of two to three months. Upon hatching, the baby stick insect reaches maturity within four or five months. Their expected life span is about one year.

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Information

Taxonomy