{"id":5578,"date":"2021-08-16T12:26:27","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T12:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/?p=5578"},"modified":"2021-08-16T12:26:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T12:26:29","slug":"15-surprisingly-interesting-facts-about-stick-insects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keepingbugs.com\/15-surprisingly-interesting-facts-about-stick-insects\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Surprisingly Interesting Facts About Stick Insects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Stick insects are amazing creatures and are among the most charismatic animals. There are over 3000 known species in the world. Stick insects are well-known for their bizarre shapes and highly developed camouflage. If you come across one you are lucky. They are hard to spot and are most active during the night. With daylight, they sit still and you will walk by them quite easily without noticing it is sitting in plain sight. Stick insects have become masters of tricks. But these fascinating animals have more secrets. In this article, we will tell you 15 surprising facts about stick insects that make them even more fascinating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. New stick insects are still being discovered<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We already mentioned that there are over 3000 different stick insects species, but regularly new species are discovered. Because of their well-developed camouflage and most common habitat of the dense tropical forest they are hard to find. Even as recent as 2018 there were 5 different new species found. Some scientists guess that there are more than 4000 different stick insect species. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Stick insects are the world’s longest insects<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The largest stick insect species is Phryganistria chinensis<\/em> and has a body length of 38.2 cm and when the forelimbs are stretched out even a length of 62.4 cm. What makes it even more bizarre is that this species is only discovered recently in 2014. That such a large stick insect can be hidden for humans for such a long time. The previous record-holder for longest stick insect was Phobaeticus chani<\/em>, also known as Chan’s megastick. With a body length of 36 cm and with stretched forelimbs even 56.7 cm it is a real giant. No wonder that stick insects are the longest insects in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Stick insects goes by many names<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stick insects are called by numerous names. Besides stick insects, they are also called stick bugs, walking sticks, bug sticks, ghost insects, phasmatodeans and phasmids. The name phasmids is derived from the Ancient Greek \u03c6\u03ac\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u00a0phasma<\/em><\/em>, meaning apparition or phantom. This refers to the fact that they look like a remarkable appearance of vegetation while in fact, they are animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaf insects, which are also called leaf bugs or walking leaves, also belong to the phasmid family. These animals look, as the name suggests, more like leaves than sticks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Stick insects can reproduce without males<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not all, but some stick insects have a fascinating way to produce offspring called parthenogenesis. It means that a female can produce offspring without the need for a male or sexual reproduction. Young of these unfertilized eggs develop perfectly into adult stick insects. Because these young are exact copies of the mother, all young are female as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parthenogenesis is rare in the animal world and only a tiny part of species are able to reproduce in this way. Most of these species are small invertebrates such as ants, bees, wasps and aphids. However, it is also observed in more than 80 vertebrate species such as sharks, snakes and lizards. Sometimes this form of reproduction is called “virgin births”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This extensive article<\/a> from national geographic explains thoroughly the phenomenon of parthenogenesis. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Stick insect eggs look like seeds<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Did you ever looked closely to stick insect eggs. They are hard to find because they are camouflaged as seeds. Another trick of stick insects. Buy resembling eggs as seeds predators don’t notice them. Many predators do like a tasty egg, but when they look like seeds they don’t do any effort. Every stick insect species has its own distinctive shape of egg ‘seed’. Because many stick insects just simply drop eggs on the ground, they are hardly noticed by other animals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a more recent research scientists had the hypothesis that maybe birds help to disperse the eggs over a larger area like they do with normal plant seeds. Although the results are not conclusive, it is still believed that birds play a role in carrying eggs over a larger distance, and some eggs have survived the bird’s digestive tract. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Stick insects are not completely defenseless<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stick insects don’t use passive camouflage alone. Many species have developed different tactics to scare off predators. Many stick insects will wave and rock like a twig or leaf waving in the wind. But there is even more. Other stick insects have large thorns on their body and hind legs, and when a predator comes too close, they will snap with their legs towards the predator inflicting at least some pain. Others will regurgitate a nasty substance that will create a bad taste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another defence by some species is even more bizarre. Like the black beauty stick insect, they can spray some sort of tear gas towards the attacker to make it go away. Stick insects have developed their defensive trick box definitely to the next level. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Some stick insects can fly<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Did you know that some stick insects can fly? Yes, they do. But it is only the males that can fly, and not all species do. Males have the ability to fly in search of mates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But many stick insects that have wings don’t use their wings to fly but have another function. Their wings are often underdeveloped but have much more colour. At least, when they are not folded. They can scare off predators, make a lot of noise (stridulation) or confuse predators by showing colours and let them disappear again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Related read:<\/strong><\/strong> Do Stick Insects Fly? A Look At Their Use Of Wings<\/a><\/div>