Tales from the garden: Stick insect

Only my second ever sighting of a stick insect

January 2025

This garden keeps throwing up surprises and I was flabbergasted and delighted when a stick insect took a liking to my plant cage door in early December 2024.

Male smooth stick insect

The plant cage was a present from hubby to keep the monarch butterflies from laying eggs on all the swan plants and milkweed at once, but here at the new house it is primarily being used for storage for all the plants I haven't been able to plant in the garden yet.

I have lived in New Zealand for over 20 years, travelled the North and South Islands, and have been helping in bush areas for the last seven. I have only ever seen one stick insect in all that time - in 2019 at Linley Reserve. Until now.

New Zealand has 23 scientifically described species of stick insect, although there are observations of only 15 species on iNaturalist, and eight in the Auckland region. The two I have seen have been the same species, the smooth stick insect or common stick insect, Clitarchus hookeri.

Female smooth stick insect, Linley Reserve, 2019

The one I saw in Linley Reserve was a female and the one here in the garden was a male. The females are considerably larger. This species feed primarily on manuka, although they have been found to eat kanuka as well as other plants. Both Linley Reserve and the garden here have kanuka stands, although both stick insects were found away from those possible food sources. Males do go looking for mates so perhaps that's why our one was by the house.

I am aware that introduced wasps are a problem for stick insects, but this RNZ article from last year says that birds are still their biggest predators. It suggests numbers of stick insects are going down, but without any historical research on stick insect numbers, it is not possible to say for certain. I am usually sharp-eyed, but I definitely cannot comment on this as I have practically never seen them in the first place!

Very cool, but slightly unnerving close up

There are plenty of sightings of this species of stick insect across Auckland, including the local reserves around here, so I may have to swallow my pride and go looking for them. And perhaps plant some more manuka in the garden.