Stick bugs diet
They are born equipped with tiny compound eyes with a limited number of facets. Phasmids generally mimic their surroundings in color, normally green or brown, although some species are brilliantly colored and others conspicuously striped. Members of the order are found all over the world except for the Antarctic and Patagonia, but they are most abundant in the tropics and subtropics. Mainly nocturnal creatures, they spend much of their day motionless, hidden under plants. As its name suggests, the stick insect resembles the twigs among which it lives, providing it with one of the most efficient natural camouflages on Earth. This explains why fully grown individuals are mostly nocturnal. Where present, the first pair of wings is narrow and cornified (hardened), while the hind wings are broad, with straight veins along their length and multiple cross-veins. Lessened sensitivity to light in the newly emerged insects helps them to escape from the leaf litter wherein they are hatched and move upward into the more brightly illuminated foliage. Some species have wings and can disperse by flying, while others are more restricted. Many phasmids are parthenogenic, and do not require fertilised eggs for female offspring to be produced. They are herbivorous with many species living unobtrusively in the tree canopy. A few species, such as Carausius morosus, are even able to change their pigmentation to match their surroundings. Some phasmids have cylindrical stick-like bodies, while others have flattened, leaflike shapes. The Phasmatodea (also known as Phasmida or Phasmatoptera ) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe and Australasia ), stick-bugs or walking sticks (in the United States and Canada ), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae ).
The body is often further modified to resemble vegetation, with ridges resembling leaf veins, bark-like tubercles, and other forms of camouflage. A number of species have spines and tubercles on their bodies. Many stick insects have wings, some spectacularly beautiful, while others resemble little more than a stump. As phasmids grow through successive molts, the number of facets in each eye is increased along with the number of photoreceptor cells. Their natural camouflage makes them difficult for predators to detect, but many species have a secondary line of defence in the form of startle displays, spines or toxic secretions. The sensitivity of the adult eye is at least tenfold that of the nymph in its first instar (developmental stage). For the water stick insect (a true bug), see Ranatra. They have a hemimetabolous life cycle with three stages: eggs, nymphs and adults. Found predominantly in the tropics and subtropics—although several species live in temperate regions—stick insects thrive in forests and grasslands, where they feed on leaves. It and the equally inconspicuous leaf insect comprise the Phasmida order, of which there are approximately 3,000 species. 6-millimeter-long) Timema cristinae of North America, to the formidable 13-inch-long (328-millimeter-long) Phobaeticus kirbyi of Borneo. Stick insect species, often called walking sticks, range in size from the tiny, half-inch-long (11.
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