Subject: please identify this monster insect
Location: Hetauda, Central Region, Nepal
July 21, 2015 11:00 am
Hi I shot this today evening on my garden. it has two huge muscular rear legs. (my english is so poor i can’t explain it further please see the pic). from Nepal. thank you.
Signature: Suman Acharya
Dear Suman,
Your English is perfectly descriptive. This is a member of the family Coreidae, and some common English names for members of the family include Big Legged Bug, Leaf Footed Bug, Flag Footed Bug or Twig Wilter. Many members of the family have greatly exaggerated tibiae on the hind legs which is apparent in several of the common names. Members of the family have sucking mouthparts that they use to obtain nourishment from plants. Alas, tried though we did, we were unable to locate a species identification for your magnificent looking Big Legged Bug, and we hope our readership might be able to provide some assistance. We did locate this similar looking species on the India Biodiversity Portal.
Update: March 26, 2017
We just received a comment that this is Anoplocnemis phasianus and this image on Encyclopedia of Life verifies that identification.
Thank you very much Bugman. it is from Nepal not India. they are two different countries. Indian Subcontinent – yes!
We had already searched Nepal with no matching images, so we tried a bordering country. Insects do not respect international borders.
😀
Coreid is Anoplocnemis phasianus (Fabricius) – known through much of SE Asia. Only males have huge hind legs.
Thanks for the identification. We have corrected the posting and included this Encyclopedia of Life link.