''Tropidoderus childrenii'', the Children's stick insect, was first described in 1833 by Gray.

Description

These relatively large stick insects generally measure about in length and are native to Eastern Australia.Phasmid Study Group: ''Tropidoderus childrenii''
/ref> Generally, the female insect is a medium green color and closely resembles leaves, thus making it difficult to spot in the foliage. A large, dark blue spot can be found on each

hindwing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindw ...

at the base of the remigium and anal lobe. This dark spot is usually hidden when the wings are folded down. The nymphs also have a long yellow strip that runs down the center of their bodies, which exactly matches the color of the leaf vein. The males can look very different, usually more slender and reddish-brown in color.

Life cycle

During

adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...

hood the Children's stick insect

mates Mates is an English surname, and may refer to: * Mates (born 1964), British newsreader and journalist * Michael Mates (born 1934), British politician * Frederick S. Mates, founded the Mates Investment Fund in 1967 that crashed in the bear market ...

more than once and

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

lays

eggs An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo begins to develop. Egg, EGG or eggs may also refer to: Biology * Egg cell, the female reproductive cell (gamete) in oogamous organisms Food * Eggs as food Places * Egg, Austria * Egg, Switzerland ...

its whole life as an adult. The males fly between trees in search for the females to mate with. The females are much larger and heavier than the males and tend to not fly very far or very often. Once they mate, the females will lay the small, oval, gray eggs that will drop to the leaf litter. Laying the eggs in winter, the eggs will hatch in autumn.

Habitat

They usually live in areas where

eucalyptus trees ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including ...

are prominent, as their main source of food is the leaves of various gum or eucalyptus trees.

Defense

When disturbed, the Children's stick insect detaches its hind legs from the foliage and repeatedly strikes them together. It flaps its hindwings up and down, flashing the dark blue splotches hidden underneath. It has been shown in

mantid Mantidae is one of the largest families in the order of praying mantises, based on the type species ''Mantis religiosa''; most genera are tropical or subtropical. Historically, this was the only family in the order, and many references still ...

species that actions like these can startle predators such as lizards (

deimatic behaviour Deimatic behaviour or startle display means any pattern of bluffing behaviour in an animal that lacks strong defences, such as suddenly displaying conspicuous eyespots, to scare off or momentarily distract a predator, thus giving the prey anima ...

), and it is believed this is the case in the stick insect as well. Furthermore, the Children's stick insect has the ability to drop a limb to escape a predator (

autotomy Autotomy (from the Greek ''auto-'', "self-" and ''tome'', "severing", αὐτοτομία) or 'self-amputation', is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards an appendage, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp ...

), just as a lizard can drop its tail.

References

External links