Northern Walkingstick

Image from espacepourlavie.ca

Stick insects such as the Northern Walkingstick (Diapheromera femorata) are vegetarians. They are well disguised as twigs or stems, some tropical species resemble leaves. These insects usually move very slowly, and at rest they align the front and rear leg s with their body, which makes the camouflage even better.

Male stick insects are often smaller than females, and pairs may remain together for days or even longer. However, females often do not need males as these insects are parthenogenic which means that females can reproduce without males.

A Walkingstick that loses a leg may be able to grow it back, which is impossible for most other insects.

Today’s species is found in deciduous forest throughout North America where they find their food sources which consist of many types of plant leaves. Even though the Northern Walkingstick is not very picky it tends to prefer oak and hazelnut leaves.