the walking stick phasmida order joy winebrenner & rebekah carroll
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The Walking StickPhasmida order
Joy Winebrenner & Rebekah Carroll
Basic Facts
Herbivores (North American species prefer
oak leaves)
Nocturnal
Spend much of the day hiding under leaves
Regions
Predominantly found in tropics/subtropics
Found anywhere there is adequate foliage for hiding
Appearance
Range from ½”(Timema cristinae of N. Am.) to 13” (Phobaeticus Kirby of Borneo) in length
Generally brown or green Some have bright colors or are striped
Stick-like bodies or leaf-life shapes
Many have wings
Females are larger than males
Hard exoskeleton
3 Body Parts:Head, Thorax, and abdomen
FamiliesThere are four major families:
• Family Timemidae -- timema walkingsticks
•Family Heteronemiidae -- common walkingsticks
•Family Pseudophasmatidae -- striped walkingsticks
•Family Phasmatidae -- winged walkingsticks
Defense
Prey to spiders, other insects, birds, reptiles, bats and rodents
Obvious camouflage (some can also change color to fit in with environment)
Fake death or detach limbs to escape
Show bright colors/sounds when threatened
Emit nasty smelling fluid (Anisomorpha buprestoides of North America)
Reproduction
Parthenogenic – females lay eggs without needing to mate with males to produce offspring
Results in 100% female population unless male fertilizes the egg – 50/50 chance of offspring being male
Some species mate depending on abundance of males
Life Cycle: Egg
Female spreads 100-1200 eggs by flicking them to the ground
May bury or stick to tree bark
Some are carried to ants nests as food and protected until they hatch and exit the nest
Life Cycle: Nymph
After 20-30 days, nymph emerges from cap at the end of the egg
Nymph grows through molting exoskeleton
Will continue to molt for several months before reaching adulthood
Can regenerate lost limbs only while molting
Life Cycle: Adult
Life span varies by species: few months – 2 years
Any regenerated legs will be slightly shorter
After six moltings, adult is sexually mature
Pets
Many people like to keep them as pets (depending on their species)
There are over 3000 species of stick and leaf insects and the most commonly kept is the Indian (or Laboratory) stick insect (Carausius morosus).
Stick insects can be handled and can be quite tame, but they are fragile and must be handled with the utmost of care.
Required care is based on their species and original surroundings (humidity, temperature, and food sources).
There are some local laws against having them as pets.
Helpful or Harmful?
Non-Native Pets who are released in the wild become ecological pests.
Sticks can reproduce in the wild and damage the ecosystem where they are not normally found.
They eat and destroy plants in the wild.
References
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/insectsspiders/a/stickinsects.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phasmatodea
http://www.ehow.com/about_5093235_walking-stick-bug.html
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/locke.hp/walk_sticks.htm
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/stick-insect/