NEWS 115
40
Mobile sticks and leaves
In some species there are just females. Or to put it better: almost just females.
Sometimes there are males as well. But the females of these species usually
breed without males, by cloning themselves. The Indian Stick Insect
(Carausius morosus) is an example of this unusual form of reproduction.
By day the Indian Stick Insect imitates a piece of stick and doesn't move
unless necessary. It doesn't even feed until the night-time, when nobody can
see it any more!
The stick and leaf insects are among the neatest creatures that you can
keep in the home terrarium. Another name for stick and leaf insects is
phasmids, and they are tremendously interesting and fascinating
creatures, as they are masters of camouflage. What at first glance
appears to be a dry leaf or a piece of dead stick is in reality an active,
living creature. Even though some species look prickly they are fairly
harmless. Stick and leaf insects eat leaves and like to be left in peace.
All species lay eggs.
No need for males?
Leaf-eaters
lthough the vast majority of stick and leaf insects live in the Tropics, they can very
readily be fed on native European plants. Blackberry leaves have proved to be a
universally acceptable food plant. The blackberry bramble (various Rubus spp.) has
the advantage that it also bears leaves in winter. So it can be collected outdoors all
year round, and there is no need to breed extra plants for the phasmids. But
blackberry brambles are prickly as they have lots of thorns! So it is sometimes quite
nice to be able to give your pets something different. Depending on the species they
will also eat the leaves of roses, oak (
Quercus spp.
), Hawthorn (
Crataegus monogyne)
,
Hazel (
Corylus avellana
), Ivy (
Hedera helix
), Privet (L
igustrumvulgare
), and a number of
others. So you can also learn how to recognize native European trees and shrubs!
A mobile leaf. Also available in
yellow and green.
Stick insects camouflage
themselves as bits of dead twig.
The Black Beauty Stick Insect (
Peruphasma schultei)
shown in the cover picture was first
discovered in 2004. Unfortunately it is endangered in its natural habitat, but because it is being
bred and there are lots of people who enjoy breeding stick insects, it has been possible to
preserve it from extinction. Note that this species sprays acid if you upset it too much. This
burns but isn't dangerous otherwise. The Black Beauty Stick Insect is a good example of why it
is so important to keep and breed animals in the terrarium.
Saved from extinction
Some species are
very prickly.
