Say hello to the Amazonian Leaf-Footed Bug, probably the prettiest insect on the planet.

I mean seriously, look at those legs! God damn.

These incredible bugs are found, as the name would suggest, in the jungles of the South American Amazon. However, they’ve also been spotted as far north as Guatemala and as far south as Uruguay.

These insects appear to be extremely under-studied, and I found very little information about them online. They don’t even have a Wikipedia page!

Upon first instinct, I would have said that their remarkable legs had evolved to help them camouflage on flowers and leaves. However, all of the Amazonian Leaf-Footed Bugs I saw were on plain, green leaves. If anything, these insects stood out from their surroundings.

As I came across more and more of these bugs, I noticed that a number of them – probably between a quarter and a third – were missing one of their hind legs. This observation led me to an interesting thought.

What if these bright, colourful legs had evolved to distract predators from the actual bug? What if, when attacked, these bugs had learned to drop off one of their legs in order to buy some time to escape – much like the way some species of lizard drop their tails? (Although unlike lizard tails, these legs didn’t seem to be growing back.)

Anyway, just a hypothesis, I have zero evidence to back this up. If there’s any entomologists out there looking for a new project – you’re welcome.

On the other hand, maybe the Amazonian Leaf-Footed Bug just thought that if it evolved to be prettier than all the other bugs, the humans would protect it. I sure hope we do!

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Amazonian Leaf-Footed Bug (Diactor sp.), Los Amigos Biological Station, Madre de Dios, Peru 🇵🇪