Phasmids are an order of insects and its scientific name is called Phasmatodea. They are known as stick insects in Europe and Australasia while they are known as sticks-bugs,walking sticks in the United states and Canada. They are generally from the family of "phylliidae",their groups name is derived from the Ancient Greek phasma,that means an apparition or phantom,this is referring to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves. Their predators cannot detect them easily because of their natural camouflage. The members of the order of phasmids are all found in continents except in Antarctica,but they are most plenty in the tropics and subtropics.
Phasmids are parthenogenic and they don't need their eggs to be fertilized for female offspring to be produced. They have a hemimetabolous life cycle with three stages and they are eggs,nymphs and adults. Phasmids breed all year round in hotter climates and in more temperate regions,the females lay eggs in the autumn before they die and the new generation hatches out in the spring.
One of the methods through which the females deposits their eggs is called oviposition and this is where the stick insects begins their life. The females will either flick her eggs to the ground by a movement of the ovipositor or her entire abdomen then it will place the eggs in the axils of the host plant carefully and then bury them in small pits in the soil or stick the eggs to a substrate,that is often a stem or leaf of the food plant. A female phasmids lays from 100 to 1200 eggs after mating but it depend on the species. The phasmatodea eggs looks like seeds in shape and size and they have hard shells. They also have lid-like structure that is called an operculum at the anterior pole,this is where the nymph emerges during hatching. Stick insects makes rhythmic, side to side movements and they repeat this rocky behavior again and again.
There are some stick insects that cannot harm because they do not have thorns or poison but there are some species that have spikes on their legs and it is made for pinching predators. The pinching actually can hurt but cannot bring out blood. Stick insects are herbivorous and they can only nibble on leaves while other bigger types of stick insects have been known to pinch with their limbs and sometimes they bite, and this is normal when they have been aggravated. Should in case a bird or some predators grab the leg of phasmids, the insect can still make an easy escape. The insect gives up the leg by using a special muscle to break it off at a weak joint and this strategy of protection is called autolomy. When a male manage to mate with a female phasmid,there is 50/50 chance that their offspring will be male and that is why the females don't need any mating before they can reproduce.
Stick insects are typically green,brown or black with stick shaped bodies and this help them to blend in as they perch on twigs and branches. Stick insects mothers are not the most maternal of insects,they drop their eggs randomly on the forest floor and leave the young ones and doesn't care where fate takes them to. Immediately a nymph has molted,it is weak to predators until its new culicle darkens and hardens. When they are hardened, their skins now turns to a dead giveaway to enemies so the nymph will quickly consume the shriveled exoskeleton to get rid of the evidence. There are some stick insect that can change color like a chameleon but it on the background where they rest.
In 2008,there was a new discovered stick insect species that came from Borneo and it broke the record for longest insects. It an incredible 22 inches with legs extended with a body length of 14 inches.
CARE FOR PHASMIDS INSECT
Put a jar or a glass over it,take it outside and release it
Phasmids are harmless so they need three things such as food,shelter and water.
The only thing about Phasmids is that they are fragile so instead of using fingers to pick them up, rather put out your hand and let the Phasmids walk on
They also want to move forward and upward so if you put your hand slightly above and in front of them,they will generally step up of their own accord
