Conlephasma enigma is a wingless, ground-dwelling species of stick insect in the monotypic genus Conlephasma, and is found on Mount Halcon, on the Philippine island of Mindoro.[1]
| Conlephasma enigma | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Phasmatodea |
| Family: | Lonchodidae |
| Genus: | Conlephasma Gottardo & Heller, 2012 |
| Species: | C. enigma
|
| Binomial name | |
| Conlephasma enigma Gottardo & Heller, 2012
| |
The species is brightly coloured, with males having a dark bluish-green head and legs, and a bright orange body with bluish-black triangle-shaped spots on the back.[1] Females are less brightly coloured.[1] It sprays a foul-smelling liquid, from glands behind its head, to repel predators.[1]
The species was identified when entomologist Oskar Conle showed Marco Gottardo and Philipp Heller specimens which had been collected some years earlier.[1] They identified it as new to science and allocated it to a new genus[1] in a paper published in Comptes Rendus Biologies.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Matt Walker (September 4, 2012). "'Mystery' stick insect discovered". BBC News. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ Marco Gottardo & Philipp Heller (2012). "An enigmatic new stick insect from the Philippine Islands (Insecta: Phasmatodea)". Comptes Rendus Biologies. 335 (9): 594–601. doi:10.1016/j.crvi.2012.07.004. PMID 23026090.