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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Walkingsticks (Phasmida)

Order Phasmida - Walkingsticks

Representative Images

Walkingstick - Anisomorpha buprestoides - female Pink Walking Stick - Parabacillus coloradus - female Anisomorpha buprestoides - male - female Short horned walking stick? Large purple walkingstick - Creosote Bush Walkingstick? - Diapheromera covilleae Arizona stick bug - Pseudosermyle Pseudosermyle strigata - female Sermyle mexicana - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Phasmida (Walkingsticks)

Other Common Names

stick insects, sticks, devil's riding horse, prairie alligator, witch's horse, devil's darning needle, musk mare (Thomas 2003)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Phasmatodea Jacobson & Bianchi 1902, Phasmatoptera, Cheleutoptera Crampton 1915
used to be treated as part of a broadly defined Orthoptera; molecular data places this group closest to the Notoptera—Embiidina lineage(1)

Explanation of Names

Phasmida Leach 1815
from Greek phasma (φασμα) 'apparition, phantom'

Numbers

29 spp. in 10 genera in our area(2), ca. 3000 worldwide(3); 16 spp. in 6 genera in TX(4)

Identification

Recent revision: (5)

Range

Largely tropical, mostly Oriental(2); in NA, much more diverse in the South, scarcely represented in the North

Habitat

Usually on trees/shrubs

Food

herbivorous

Internet References

Texas walkingsticks (Quinn 2012)
(6)

Works Cited

1.Phylogenomics resolves the timing and pattern of insect evolution
Bernhard Misof et al. 2014. Science Vol. 346, 763.
2.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
3.Brock P.D. Phasmida species file online. Version 5.0
4.Texas Walkingstick Information, by Mike Quinn
5.Stick Insects of the Continental United States and Canada
Chad Arment. 2006. Coachwhip Publications.
6.Conle O., Hennemann F. (2000-2013) phasmatodea.com -- The world of stick insects
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Beatriz Moisset, Mike Quinn, David Ferguson, ceiseman, v belov, Marci Hess
Last updated 31 July, 2024 - 6:08pm

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