Oct 18, 2008, 1:33 GMT
Kuala Lumpur - Measuring over 30 centimetres in length, a new stick insect species found in a village in the eastern state of Sabah has been named after a Malaysian man, reports said Saturday.
Officially named Phobaticus Chani, or Chan's Megastick, in the October's issue of the scientific journal Zootaxa by British scientist Philip Bragg, the insect was discovered and sent to the British Museum of Natural History to be studied by Chan Chew Lun, an amateur naturalist.
The stick insect, which resembled a pencil-thin, dark green bamboo shoot and measured nearly 56 centimetres in total length, has a body length of 35 centimetres, beating the previous record held by Phobaeticus Kirby, the Star daily reported.
'One day in 1989, I met a farmer who handed over this huge stick insect he found, and I realized that it could be a totally new species,' Chan said, adding that he was honoured to have the stick insect named after him.
With an affinity for the unique stick insect, Chan, who runs the Kota Kinabalu-based Natural History Publications, said that he had been collecting all types of the insect since 1981 and has written numerous articles about the creatures.
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