Walkingsticks
An Interesting Animal
Photo: courtesy Jane Dunham
Jane Dunham
Hikers know a lot about walking sticks. Most of us probably have a variety of them stuffed away in our closets.
But how much do we know about insect walkingsticks? These are the very thin insects that hide by disguising themselves on tree branches. Stick insects belong to the Phasmatodea group of invertebrates and live on every continent except Antarctica.
Depending on their species, walkingsticks can grow to 12 inches or longer, making them the longest insects in the world. They live up to two years, going through a molting stage several times. The leaves of oak trees and other deciduous trees and shrubs are their primary habitat and food source. They are herbivores and do not attack or bite people. Walkingsticks are most active at night.
Photo: courtesy Jane Dunham
Photo: courtesy Jane Dunham
Photo: courtesy Jane Dunham
A walkingstick has a strong mandible, a small head, a long thorax and abdomen, two antennae about 2/3 the length of its body, and six slender legs spread out on its thorax.
The bodies of walkingsticks are well camouflaged because they look like twigs and they can change color to match their location. They can also sway along with the wind on their branches to make themselves less obvious to predators.
Photo: courtesy Betsy Cross
Photo: courtesy Betsy Cross
Photo: courtesy Betsy Cross
Walkingsticks are prey for birds, rodents, bats, and reptiles. Bats' echolocation reveals the presence of walkingsticks even when they are hard for other predators to discern. Some wallkingstick species can spray an odorous poison to disarm a predator. Another defensive movement is shedding a leg, which they can regenerate during molting. When disturbed, they often fall to the ground and “play dead” for hours.
Walkingsticks can reproduce parthenogenetically. Females can produce unfertilized eggs that hatch and grow into new females. Their mating ritual with males can last for hours or days. The males are shorter and slimmer than the females.
The females either hide their eggs by sticking them to leaves and bark or drop them onto the deciduous forest floor. The egg stage overwinters. The nymphs that finally emerge are green. They eat their molted skins so predators don’t see them and crawl up woody vegetation at night to nibble foliage. The adults perish if temperatures get down to the freezing point. They are most comfortable within the 68-86 degree range.
On a global basis, there are 2,500 species in the order Phasmida. Over 30 species live in the United States and Canada. The walkingstick most seen in Hays County is the common walkingstick.
Walkingstick, June 1, 2024 Photo: courtesy Betsy Cross