List of stick insects of New Zealand
Stick insects in New Zealand are found in a range of different environments, from cold high alpine areas to dry coastal forest.[1] There are between 17 and 23 different species recognised,[2] from 10 genera.[3] The most common species of the stick insect in New Zealand is the smooth stick insect (Clitarchus hookeri) (Salmon 1991). Following Günther (1953), the New Zealand stick insects are placed into the subfamilies Phasmatinae (tribe: Acanthoxylini) and Pachymorphinae (tribe: Pachymorphinini). Classification and identification is based on Jewell & Brock (2002) and 2015.[4]
This is a list of currently recognised stick insects in New Zealand:[2]
Family Phasmatinae
- Acanthoxyla geisoveii (Kaup 1866)
- Acanthoxyla inermis (Salmon 1955)
- Acanthoxyla prasina (Westwood 1859)
- Clitarchus hookeri (White 1846)
- Clitarchus rakauwhakanekeneke (Buckley, Myers & Bradler 2014)
- Clitarchus tepaki (Buckley, Myers & Bradler 2014)
Family Pachymorphinae
- Asteliaphasma jucundum (Salmon 1991)
- Asteliaphasma naomi (Salmon 1991)
Micrarchus
- Micrarchus hystriculeus (Westwood 1859)
- Micrarchus parvulus Carl, 1913
Tectarchus
- Tectarchus huttoni (Brunner 1907)
- Tectarchus ovobessus (Salmon 1954)
- Tectarchus salebrosus (Hutton 1899)
See also
References
- ^ Buckley et al. (2010).
- ^ a b "Phasmida Species File - Acanthoxyla Uvarov, 1944". phasmida.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
- ^ Jewell & Brock (2002).
- ^ "An Updated Checklist of New Zealand Phasmids". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
- Buckley, T. R.; Attanayake, D.; Nylander, J. A.; Bradler, S. (2010). "The phylogenetic placement and biogeographical origins of the New Zealand stick insects (Phasmatodea)". Systematic Entomology. 35 (2): 207–225. Bibcode:2010SysEn..35..207B. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2009.00505.x.
- Buckley, Thomas R.; Bradler, Sven (2010). "Tepakiphasma ngatikuri, a new genus and species of stick insect (Phasmatodea) from the Far North of New Zealand". New Zealand Entomologist. 33 (1): 118–126. Bibcode:2010NZEnt..33..118B. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.602.4516. doi:10.1080/00779962.2010.9722200. ISSN 0077-9962.
- Buckley, Thomas R.; Myers, Shelley S.; Bradler, Sven (24 December 2014). "Revision of the stick insect genus Clitarchus Stål (Phasmatodea: Phasmatidae): new synonymies and two new species from northern New Zealand". Zootaxa. 3900 (4): 451–482. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3900.4.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 25543751.
- Günther, K. (1953). "Über die taxonomische Gliederung und die geographische Verbreitung der Insektenordnung der Phasmatodea". Beiträge zur Entomologie. 3 (5). Berlin: 541–563.
- Hutton, F. W. (1899). "Revision of the New Zealand Phasmidae". Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. 31: 50–59.
- Jewell, Tony; Brock, Paul D. (2002). "A review of the New Zealand stick insects: new genera and synonymy, keys, and a catalogue". Journal of Orthoptera Research. 11 (2): 189–197. doi:10.1665/1082-6467(2002)011[0189:arotnz]2.0.co;2. ISSN 1082-6467.
- Kaup, Johann Jacob (1866). "Description of two new species of the genus Bacillus, Latr". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 1866: 577–578.
- O'Neill, S. B.; Buckley, T. R.; Jewell, T. R.; Ritchie, P. A. (2009). "Phylogeographic history of the New Zealand stick insect Niveaphasma annulata (Phasmatodea) estimated from mitochondrial and nuclear loci". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 53 (2): 523–536. Bibcode:2009MolPE..53..523O. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.07.007. PMID 19596452.
- Salmon, J. T. (1948). "New Genera Species and Records of Orthoptera from the Three Kings Islands New Zealand". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3: 301–307. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42906018. Wikidata Q58676665.
- Salmon, J. T. (1954). "A new genus and species of Phasmidae from New Zealand". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 82: 161–168.
- Salmon, J. T. (1955). "The genus Acanthoxyla (Phasmidae)". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 82 (5).
- Salmon, J. T (1991). The stick insects of New Zealand. Raupo.
- Trewick, S. A.; Goldberg, J.; Morgan-Richards, M. (2005). "Fewer species of Argosarchus and Clitarchus stick insects (Phasmida, Phasmatinae): evidence from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequence data". Zoologica Scripta. 34 (5): 483–491. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00204.x.
- Westwood, John Obadiah (1859). Catalogue of orthopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum; Part I., Phasmidae. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.21204. hdl:2027/nnc1.cu62461982.
- White, A. (1846). Richardson, John; Gray, John Edward (eds.). The zoology of the voyage of the H.M.S. Erebus & Terror, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, during the years 1839 to 1843. By authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Vol. 1. Insects of New Zealand.
- "Stick Insects (Phasmatodea)". Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua. Retrieved 20 February 2019.