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rare
Blue Manga Stick Insect
Achrioptera manga
- Habitat
- Dry forests of far northern Madagascar, especially Montagne des Francais and Foret d'Orangea
- Body length
- 240 mm
- Order
- Phasmatodea · Achriopteridae
Weird but real
Males mature into a vivid electric blue even though most stick insects survive by looking like twigs. The species hid in plain sight as a color form of another giant stick insect until DNA work separated it in 2019.
Why it's cool
A giant stick insect that seems to break its own camouflage rule: branch-shaped body, tropical-sky color, and orange leg flashes on a living insect from Madagascar's dry forest.
