Black beauty stick insect
The black beauty stick insect is velvet black with bright yellow eyes. Grown-ups have tiny bright red wings that are too small to fly with. It lives on just one small patch of mountains in Peru, but people keep it as a pet all over the world.
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Fun facts
In the wild it lives in an area smaller than 5 hectares, about the size of seven football fields.
It is critically endangered, which means it is in great danger of dying out in nature.
People are breeding it as a pet, so there are many more black beauties in homes than in the wild.
It sprays its defence liquid from little glands at the back of its head.
Most asked questions about Black beauty stick insect
?Is the black beauty stick insect dangerous?
Not really, but it can spray a liquid that stings the eyes and skin, so keep it away from your face.
?What does the black beauty stick insect eat?
In Peru it eats Schinus leaves. As a pet it eats privet and honeysuckle.
?Is the black beauty stick insect endangered?
Yes. It is critically endangered in the wild because its home is being turned into farmland.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Peruphasma schultei
- Group
- Stick and leaf insects
- Family
- Pseudophasmatidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Phasmatodea > Pseudophasmatidae
- Lives on
- South America
- Also known as
- Golden-eyed stick insect
Where the facts come from
- Peruphasma schultei (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by I naturen. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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