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Old 15-08-2009, 02:09 PM
R Srinivasan R Srinivasan is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2009
Location: Mumbai, the tropical west coast of India.
Posts: 3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mleblanca View Post
On Aug 14, 2:45 pm, Mysterious Traveler
wrote:
Do walking stick insects suck the life out of plants and make the
leaves fall off?

One appeared near some Hummingbird trumpet vines at the same time
the leaves shriveled up and fell off. Google couldn't tell me how
they affect a plant. There was a link I followed this morning about
a walking stick from another country that is in the southern US and
can spray a chemical that can damage eyes. I was going to include the
link but can't find it now.

Thanks for any help
Mysterious Traveler


Hi Traveler
I looked in my Fieldbook of Natural HIstory and found

W. S. insect feeds mainly on leaves of trees, mostly at night.
Leaves are chewed not sucked. Common predator is the Grackle
and other birds, also lizards and mantids.
They are in Family Phasmidae.
Diapheromera is the Genus name.
(try googling that)

Emilie
NorCal
Of the two description of the walking stick insect( not alluded to the stick used by elderly persons), one fits the famous bombardier, a common winged creature of tropics for it can aerosol a malodorus biochemical to ward off pursuing predators and the second is also inhabitant of tropical jungles. You will notice mimicking stick is also found in a form of praying mantis which is a carnivorae.