Indian Walking Stick

Carausius morosus · Order: Phasmida · Family: Lonchodidae

Also called: Indian Stick Insect, Laboratory Stick Insect

Damages trees, gardens or crops. It can become a pest that damages ornamental plants.

Indian Walking Stick — Photo: Tom and T Herman, CC BY

They reproduce without males; the cultured population consists of parthenogenetic females, with males extremely rare. Accidental introductions have led to infestations on ornamental plants in many countries.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Females are elongated and measure about 80 to 100 mm (3 to 4 in) long. Eggs are ovoid, brown, and about 2 mm (0.08 in) in length.

Source: Wikipedia

Is it a pest in the house?

Accidental introductions have been recorded worldwide, and they sometimes become pests. Studies at the San Diego Zoo found them on many ornamental plants.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

They are active at night like most stick insects.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

All cultured individuals are females that can reproduce without mating. Males are extremely rare (about 1 in 1000), and occasional gynandromorphs appear in captivity.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Cultured stocks originally came from Tamil Nadu, India.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 3 of 51 states and DC. Most records: California, South Carolina, Nevada.

AKMEVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILWIMINYRIMAORNVWYSDIAINOHPANJCTCAUTCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFL

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: introduced in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Indian Walking Stick photo 3 — Photo: Jesse Rorabaugh, CC BY

Indian Walking Stick photo 4 — Photo: Tom and T Herman, CC BY

Indian Walking Stick photo 5 — Photo: Rudyard, CC BY

Indian Walking Stick photo 6 — Photo: unknown, CC0

Questions people ask

How large do Indian walking sticks get?

Females grow to about 80 to 100 mm (3 to 4 in) long.

Source: Wikipedia

Can they reproduce without males?

Yes, the cultured population consists of parthenogenetic females that lay eggs without mating.

Source: Wikipedia

Are they a problem for my garden?

They have been found on many ornamental plants and can become garden pests.

Source: Wikipedia

Sources

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius_morosus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.