my Monday, 11 September 2023

Some insects can be rather creepy, especially those with just too many legs. Some can appear threatening, such as wasps and hornets. Some can be fascinating to watch, such as bees gathering pollen. Some can be beautiful and mood lifting, such as butterflies. And some can be just plain odd, such as walking sticks. Looking like thin twigs or dried stems, they are masters at blending in with their environments, all but invisible among plants and garden debris. This one I almost wiped away as I way clearing spider webs and leaves from a corner of the house Friday.

Certainly, they do look like sticks. and they do walk. But what looks a bit like a head with pincer jaws is not a head; it is actually the end of the abdomen. And, what looks like a tail of sorts is the head with another set of legs and two antennae expertly folded together. In the photo on the left below, slight separation of legs and antennae can be seen. On the right, the extension of the antennae from the head and the legs from the thorax becomes clear.

Little surprise that the order for this insect is Phasmatodea, rooted in the Greek word phasm, or phantom, indicating their enigmatic appearance. If they are not climbing the side of your house, they are usually very hard to see. Proof of the point, while I was cleaning up some spent perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) the next day, I felt a tickling on my arm—the kind of light sensation you feel when a little insect is crawling on your forearm. I looked at what was in my hand and found this creature:

In the first photo below, the tickler gains footing when I put the plant debris gently down. In the second photo the walking stick walked off to climb a nearby oak tree. The one I photographed the day before was still on the side of the house, occasionally bouncing delicately on its legs, pretending to be a stem blown by the wind.

Notice that the left leg of the central pair of legs is missing on the insect above. According to Briticanna, walking sticks “are unusual among the insects in that they have the ability to regenerate legs and antennae.” I hope that is true.