Orestes (insect)
Orestes is a small group of stick insects from Southeast and East Asia. All members are wingless and mostly beige to brown, sometimes with white markings that are more visible in younger individuals. Males are about 3.2 to 4.5 cm long, while females are a bit larger, about 3.8 to 5.5 cm. The bodies are slim and cylindrical, and the head sometimes carries unusual structures that can look like spikes or ear-shaped horns in some species.
They are mostly nocturnal. By day they hide in the leafy layer on the ground or behind bark, and if disturbed they often pretend to be dead.
One well-known species is Orestes mouhotii, but the genus includes several others, such as Orestes guangxiensis, Orestes shirakii, Orestes draegeri, Orestes bachmaensis, Orestes japonicus, Orestes krijnsi, Orestes dittmari, Orestes subcylindricus, and Orestes ziegleri. The animals occur over a wide range that stretches from the Andaman Islands and Sumatra through the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Singapore, and Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, into parts of southern China and down to the south of Japan.
Life cycle and reproduction are simple: females lay eggs in the ground, usually one to three eggs per week. Eggs are small, about 2.5 to 4 millimeters long. After two to six months, nymphs hatch, and they are roughly 7 to 15 millimeters long at birth. It can take six months to more than a year for nymphs to become adults. Many populations kept in captivity can reproduce without males, but some species do reproduce sexually.
Taxonomically, the genus was first described in the early 1900s. In recent years scientists have used genetics to better understand how these species are related and to sort out different groups within the genus. New species continue to be described, and some names have changed as scientists refine the classification.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:42 (CET).