Leaf Insects are insects designed to resemble a leaf or leaves for camouflage.
Phyllium is the largest genus of Leaf Insects. They are native to South and Southeast Asia and Australasia.
Leaf Insects eat leaves, especially of some fruit trees like guava but also bushes like bramble.
They are usually green with some brown patches to mimic leaves, but can be pinkish and, especially in late summer, yellow or brown.
They come in many shapes and sizes. They are mainly nocturnal. Several of the Phyllium
species have been moved to other genera (eg. Crytophyllium) in recent years.
Female
Male
Pair
One of the more common is the Philippinicum Leaf Insect, Phyllium philippinicum, sometimes called the Philippine Leaf Insect,
native to tropical forests of the Philippines.
Female leaf insects are much wider and a little longer (up to 7cm) than the slender males (to 6cm) which have longer antennae.
Adult females have broad, flat outer wings but cannot fly. Adult males can fly.
Phyllium jacobsoni, sometimes called Gray's Leaf Insect, is similar to the Philippinicum
but is native to Java, Indonesia.
The Giant Walking Leaf or Giant (Malaysian) Leaf Insect, Phyllium giganteum, is native to Malaysia and
Borneo and is the world's largest leaf insect reaching 10cm long (with a very flat, leaflike body).
Like other leaf insects, these Giant Leaves are mainly active at night and move like a leaf in the wind during the day.
Males of the Giant Walking Leaf are rare so the female is able to lay unfertilised eggs which hatch as
clones of the mother by parthenogenesis (babies shown above).