the.com/stickbug
a twig that got bored of standing still and grew legs
means An elongated, slow-moving insect of the order Phasmatodea whose body and limbs mimic twigs or sticks as camouflage.
from A plain English compound of "stick" and "bug," naming the creature for the obvious: it looks like a stick that happens to be a bug. "Stick" comes from Old English "sticca" (a rod or twig), and "bug" is a word of murky origin once meaning a hobgoblin or object of dread, which by the 17th century had drifted to mean a creeping insect. The insect's family name, Phasmatodea, leans on the same joke in Greek — from "phasma," meaning phantom or apparition, because the thing all but disappears against the branch.
- master clone
- females breed without males, all-female lineages exist
- size record
- one species stretches over 25 inches long
- egg disguise
- eggs mimic seeds, even fooling hungry ants
- regrow limbs
- young can regenerate lost legs after molting
- sway trick
- rocks gently to mimic a wind-blown branch
timema cristinae — california stick insect species with two color morphs that evolved reproductive isolation in sympatry
anisomorpha buprestoides — two-striped walkingstick of southeastern us that sprays caustic defensive chemicals
baculum extradentatum — vietnamese stick insect, one of the longest insects at up to 21 inches