{{Short description|Genus of stick insects}} {{Speciesbox | name = ''Conlephasma enigma'' | image = | genus = Conlephasma | parent_authority = Gottardo & Heller, 2012 | species = enigma | authority = Gottardo & Heller, 2012 }}

'''''Conlephasma enigma''''' is a wingless, ground-dwelling species of stick insect in the monotypic genus '''''Conlephasma''''', and is found on Mount Halcon, on the Philippine island of Mindoro.<ref name="BBC">{{Cite news | title = 'Mystery' stick insect discovered | author=Matt Walker | publisher=BBC News | accessdate = September 4, 2012 | date = September 4, 2012 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19399735| archive-url = https://archive.today/20130113230023/http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19399735| url-status = dead| archive-date = January 13, 2013}}</ref>

The species is brightly coloured, with males having a dark bluish-green head and legs, and a bright orange body with bluish-black triangle-shaped spots on the back.<ref name="BBC" /> Females are less brightly coloured.<ref name="BBC" /> It sprays a foul-smelling liquid, from glands behind its head, to repel predators.<ref name="BBC" />

The species was identified when entomologist Oskar Conle showed Marco Gottardo and Philipp Heller specimens which had been collected some years earlier.<ref name="BBC" /> They identified it as new to science and allocated it to a new genus<ref name="BBC" /> in a paper published in ''Comptes Rendus Biologies''.<ref>{{Cite journal |author=Marco Gottardo & Philipp Heller |year=2012 |title=An enigmatic new stick insect from the Philippine Islands (Insecta: Phasmatodea) |journal=Comptes Rendus Biologies |volume=335 |issue=9 |pages=594–601 |doi=10.1016/j.crvi.2012.07.004|pmid=23026090 |url=https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/biologies/articles/10.1016/j.crvi.2012.07.004/ |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.democraticunderground.com/112723020 Picture at ''democraticunderground.com'']

{{Taxonbar|from=Q5161233}}

Category:Phasmatodea genera Category:Endemic insects of the Philippines Category:Fauna of Mindoro Category:Monotypic insect genera