Order Phasmida - Stick Insects and Leaf Insects

• Walking Stick
• Javanese Leaf Insect
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Large, often wingless insects, frequently very slender and twig-like, or more rarely flattened and leaf-like. Antennae moderately long and filamentous in the twig-like forms, but short and stubby in the leaf-like species. Mouthparts for biting. Prothorax short, but in the twig-like species the other thoracic segments are very long and between them may account for nearly half the body length. All the legs are relatively long, slender and fairly similar - lost legs can be partly regenerated and replaced at a succeeding moult. The legs of leaf-like species have lamellate extensions on each side. Abdomen with a pair of short, unsegmented cerci at the hind end. Males are unknown in many species and extremely rare in others. Reproduction is then parthenogenic, the females laying fertile eggs without mating. Where males of the twig-like species exist they are considerably shorter than the females and much more slender. The eggs have a very hard outer coating and resemble small seeds - each is provided with 'lid' which comes off when it hatches. Metamorphosis is simple, with five or six nymphal stages. About 2,000 species worldwide, mostly in tropical regions.

Description. Typical wingless, twig-like Stick Insect, up to 70 mm long. Grey to green in colour, usually yellowing with age.

Biology. Feeds on the leaves of various deciduous trees, such as oaks and wild cherries. At times it is abundant enough to defoliate large areas of woodland. Well camouflaged among the twigs of trees and bushes. The eggs are dropped to the ground singly, where they rest among fallen leaves until hatching time the following year.

Distribution. Eastern North America, from Texas in the south to Ontario in the north.

Photo: A. Feininger ©

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Description. Up to 80 mm long. Flattened body, with leaf-like flaps on the legs. Almost entirely green in colour, apart from vein-like markings on the forewings and scattered brownish marks elsewhere. The whole insect looks just like a leaf.

Biology. Lives on vegetation and well camouflaged against the leaves on which it feeds.

Distribution. Indonesia.

Photo: Smithsonian Institution ©