Stick insect-Evolution

1. Stick insect
 The stick insect (as its name suggests) is an insect that looks like a twig on a branch, bush or tree.
 It is a suitable example for mimicry(adaptation).
 This unique identity means that stick insects can be extremely difficult for predators to spot.
 Stick insects are found in the forests, rainforests and jungles around the world where they live a
peaceful lifestyle, expertly camouflaged into their surroundings.
 Stick insects can range in size from just 3 cm to 30 cm in length.
 Body is elongated, resembles a walking stick and is divisible into head, thorax and order
abdomen.
 The head bears a pair of very small eyes and a pair of long antennae.
 Thorax is composed of pro, meso, and metathorax and bears three pairs of long and
slender limbs.
 Wings greatly reduced in size or even absent in some forms.
 Meso-thorax and meta-thorax are greatly elongated.
 Abdomen has ten segments and the insects feed on foliage.
 The stick insect is an herbivorous animal. They mainly feed on leaves and other green plants,
along with the odd berries or fruit.
 Due to their small size, it have numerous predators in their tree-surrounded environment.
 After mating, the female stick insect lays up to 1,500 eggs which are cleverly camouflage to look
like plant seeds.

2.  The eggs of the stick insect are able to lay dormant for months before the larvae begin to hatch
out of the eggs.
 When the insect larvae first hatch, they closely resemble with an adult stick insect.