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insect from 12300 feet in Andes – Tambopaxi near Cotopaxi volcano
The insects on your web pages have such fascinating morphology and many are so beautiful. Thank you for a wonderful web site. I contacted you earlier about Dutch bugs – I thought you might like to see a beautiful insect (although only adequately photographed) from Tambopaxi which is at 12,300 feet in the Ecuadorian Andes – this is close to the 19,300 foot Cotopaxi volcano. These insects were found under a rock by my son in April 2006. From memory the largest was about 4 cm long. If you know what they are I would love to know. Best Wishes,
Yours sincerely,
Richard

Hi Richard,
Our best guess here is probably some species of Phasmid or Walkingstick. They are rather awesome looking creatures. Eric Eaton wrote to confirm our identification, but sadly, we have lost his exact words. He added that this is probably a toxic species based on the coloration.

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