When they're not hanging upside down, stick insects don't need to stick. In fact, when moving upright, sticking would be a hindrance: so much extra effort required to 'unstick' again with every step.
Materials Science
Feb 19, 2014
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Many animals depend on their microbiome to digest their food. Symbiotic microorganisms produce enzymes their hosts cannot, and these work alone or together with the animals' own enzymes to break down their food. Many plant-feeding ...
Plants & Animals
May 31, 2016
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The stick insect is a popular model organism in biological research for gaining a better understanding of insect walking movements. The advantage of the stick insect is that the structure of its body parts and nervous system ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 16, 2016
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New research shows the fluid found on insects' feet does not help them adhere to vertical and inverted surfaces, as previously thought, but may in fact help them to unstick their feet more easily to allow greater control ...
Materials Science
Oct 7, 2015
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From a soul-sucking 'dementor' wasp named after a creature from the Harry Potter books to a half-metre long stick insect, scientists identified 139 new species in the Greater Mekong Region in 2014, according to a new report.
Plants & Animals
May 27, 2015
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Is evolution predictable and repeatable? That's a question Utah State University scientist Zachariah Gompert set out to explore with colleagues using Timema cristianae, a rather short and stout, plant-eating stick insect ...
Evolution
May 15, 2014
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An ancient stick insect species may have mimicked plant leaves for defense, according to a paper published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on March 19, 2014 by Maomin Wang, from Capital Normal University, China and colleagues.
Paleontology & Fossils
Mar 19, 2014
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A California walking stick insect that has evolved to produce individuals with two distinct appearances—an all-green form that camouflages well with broader leaves and a form with a white stripe running down its back that ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 21, 2013
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Camouflaged creatures can perform remarkable disappearing acts but new research shows that predators can learn to read camouflage. The study, which used human subjects as predators searching for hidden moths in computer games, ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 10, 2013
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(Phys.org) —Researchers at the John Innes Centre in Great Britain have discovered that the bug known as the giant lime green stick insect (Diapherodes gigantea) has microbes in its gut that are able to thwart bacteria that ...
