I asked one of my lecturers, who is a stick insect expert, and she said that it is in the genus Acanthoxyla. There are 8 described species, but the taxonomy of this group is a bit dodgy. She suspects it may be a Acanthoxyla prasina, but needs to see the operculum spine, which is underneath.
The most intersting thing about this genus is that it has no males, only parthenogenetically-reproducing females.
I had originally thought Acanthoxyla (because it was so big!), but the only photos I could find of species with pink on the forelegs was Tectarchus salebrosus. To be honest I've never been happy with that identification.
well it wasn't huge, but bigger than my hand. NZ does have a number of mega-sized invertebrates, including giant earthworms, giant flatworms, giant cave spiders, giant collembola, giant moths, giant centipedes, and of course giant weta (the heaviest recorded was 71 grams). See the second photo down on this link for a giant weta: What the cat brought in | Code for Life
well it wasn't huge, but bigger than my hand. NZ does have a number of mega-sized invertebrates, including giant earthworms, giant flatworms, giant cave spiders, giant collembola, giant moths, giant centipedes, and of course giant weta (the heaviest recorded was 71 grams). See the second photo down on this link for a giant weta: What the cat brought in | Code for Life
