23 December 2013
Monday macrobugs: mating stick insects
Posted by Callan Bentley
Back in the fall, we saw a lot of sexy scenes among the stick insects on our land. Everywhere, it seemed, the smaller males were searching out larger females, and put gametes together to make the little zygotes that would grow into the next generation of these extraordinarily well-camouflaged insects…
Here’s a pair on the side of the house:
And, same pair, with a flash illuminating their nuptials… Note the “bandit” like eyestripe on the male.
It’s interesting to me to compare their coloring and patterning. The male’s a richer brown, with stripes and green bits, while the female looks more like a typical gray stick.
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.