Trivia question for Oct-06-2011

Olivia picked these odd looking bugs for her trivia today.  See if you can guess what this is.  These guys are masters of camouflage, they are near perfect imitators of their surroundings which is where they get their name.  They can also remain still for several hours at a time.

These species exhibit mechanisms for defense from predators that both prevent an attack from happening in the first place (primary defense) and are deployed after an attack has been initiated (secondary defense). Camouflage is obviously their first defense but in a seemingly opposite method of defense, many species will seek to startle the encroaching predator by flashing bright colors that are normally hidden and making a loud noise.

When disturbed on a branch or foliage, some species, while dropping to the undergrowth to escape, will open their wings momentarily during free fall to display bright colors that disappear when the insect lands. Others will maintain their display for up to 20 minutes, hoping to frighten the predator and convey the appearance of a larger size. Some accompany the visual display with noise made by rubbing together parts of the wings or antennae.

Here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what type of insect this is and tell us what it sounds like when many of these insects lay their eggs at the same time in the forest?  Also, in many species of this insect type, females can outnumber males _____ to one, fill in the blank?

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Wow, Olivia obviously did a great job with her trivia.  The odd looking bugs we featured are known as Stick Insects.  The Phasmatodea (sometimes called Phasmida) are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects (in Europe and Australasia), walking sticks or stick-bugs (in the United States and Canada), phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects (generally the family Phylliidae). The ordinal name is derived from the Ancient Greek φάσμα phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom, and refers to the resemblance of many species to sticks or leaves.

The sound of hundreds of falling eggs being laid by many stick insects can actually be mistaken for a particularly noisy rainstorm in the forest.  In many parthenogenic species of stick insects, the females may outnumber males 4,000 to 1, and in some species a male has yet to be found.  This is because some of these females are able to produce fertilized eggs without having mated with a male.  Here is more on these cool looking bugs: Stick Insects

Thanks for playing along 😉