Longest insect body length

The insect species with the longest recorded body is a stick insect called Chan's megastick Phobaeticus chani, from the rainforests of the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the island of Borneo. The longest specimen had a body length alone of 355 mm (14 in); it measured 566 mm (22.3 in) long with its legs fully stretched out, and is housed at the Natural History Museum in London, UK. Its species was scientifically named and described as recently as 2008.

The world's longest species of insect is Phryganistria chinensis, a species of stick insect represented by a record-breaking specimen found on a road during a field inspection in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014 but not made public until May 2016. With legs fully outstretched, the huge specimen measured 624 mm, and is now preserved in the Insect Museum of West China (IMWC) in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province. It was spotted and collected by Zhao Li from the IMWC. However, its body length alone measured marginally under 350 cm, thereby preventing it from taking the record for longest insect body from Chan's megastick. Also of note is Pharnacia kirbyi, another stick insect species from the rainforests of Borneo. Once again, the longest-known specimen is in the Natural History Museum, London, UK; it has a body length of 328 mm (12.9 in) and a total length, including the legs, of 546 mm (21½ in). In the wild, this species is often found with some legs missing, because they are so long and easily trapped when the insect sheds its skin.