Clitarchus hookeri
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Clitarchus hookeri, commonly known as the smooth stick insect or the common stick insect, is a stick insect of the family Phasmatidae, endemic to New Zealand. It is possibly New Zealand's most common stick insect. Clitarchus hookeri is often green in appearance, but can also be brown or red. Alongside the prickly stick insect and the Unarmed stick insect, C. hookeri is one of three stick insect species to have become naturalised in Great Britain, with all three having originated in New Zealand.
Clitarchus hookeri is a large stick insect. This species demonstrates sexual dimorphism. Female specimens grow from 81 – 106 mm and males from 67 – 74 mm. The colour can be variable, even in the same location, ranging from bright green to grey, brown or buff. Colour variation is thought to be genetic not environmentally determined. Unlike many tropical stick insects, Clitarchus hookeri is flightless.
Clitarchus hookeri is found from Northland to the Wellington region in the south of the North Island of New Zealand. In the South Island it is not as widespread, being found mainly in eastern coastal areas from Nelson and Marlborough in the north... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abel Tasman National Park | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auckland | 🇳🇿 New Zealand |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth Stick Insect sighting in Auckland on a given day, based on 99 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 78th most-seen of the 689 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November to January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Smooth Stick Insect in Auckland on a given day, against under 5% in June, the lowest month.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Smooth Stick Insect sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Auckland, in our data
Auckland is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Smooth Stick Insect sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Smooth Stick Insect is recorded against all the insects logged in Auckland (99 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
