List of stick insects of New Zealand

Undescribed Micrarchus species illustrated by Des Helmore

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

• Acanthoxyla geisoveii ( Kaup 1866 )
• Acanthoxyla inermis ( Salmon 1955 )
• Acanthoxyla prasina ( Westwood 1859 )

Argosarchus

• Argosarchus horridus ( White 1846 )

Clitarchus

• Clitarchus hookeri ( White 1846 )
• Clitarchus rakauwhakanekeneke ( Buckley, Myers & Bradler 2014 )
• Clitarchus tepaki ( Buckley, Myers & Bradler 2014 )

Pseudoclitarchus

• Pseudoclitarchus sentus ( Salmon, J. T. 1948 )

Tepakiphasma

• Tepakiphasma ngatikuri ( Buckley & Bradler 2010 )

Family Pachymorphinae

Asteliaphasma

• Asteliaphasma jucundum ( Salmon 1991 )
• Asteliaphasma naomi ( Salmon 1991 )

Micrarchus

• Micrarchus hystriculeus ( Westwood 1859 )
• Micrarchusparvulus Carl, 1913

Niveaphasma

• Niveaphasma annulata ( Hutton 1899 )

Spinotectarchus

• Spinotectarchus acornutus ( Hutton 1899 )

Tectarchus

• Tectarchus huttoni (Brunner 1907)
• Tectarchus ovobessus ( Salmon 1954 )
• Tectarchus salebrosus ( Hutton 1899 )

See also

• Egg (phasmatodea)

References

1. Buckley et al. (2010).
2. "Phasmida Species File - Acanthoxyla Uvarov, 1944". phasmida.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
3. Jewell & Brock (2002).
4. "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.