Stick grasshopper
The stick grasshopper, scientifically known as Apioscelis bulbosa, is a unique insect native to South America, particularly found in Ecuador. Unlike typical grasshoppers that have robust bodies and wings, the stick grasshopper features a slender, stick-like physique with no wings, allowing it to blend seamlessly into its rainforest environment. This creature is a master of camouflage, mimicking the appearance of twigs, which helps it evade predators such as birds and reptiles.
Reaching lengths of up to 11 inches (28 centimeters), the stick grasshopper exhibits distinctive characteristics including spindly legs and a small head, with thicker joints that resemble blobs of glue connecting its body parts. As a herbivore, it primarily consumes leaves, stems, and flowers from the rainforest vegetation, utilizing powerful mandibles for chewing.
Stick grasshoppers reproduce by laying eggs in pods, either buried in the ground or placed on leaves. The lifecycle includes multiple molts before reaching adulthood. Though they face threats from various predators, their unique adaptations allow them to thrive in their habitat. Males typically have a short lifespan of about two months, while females can live up to a year, and they are not considered a threatened species.
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Stick grasshopper
Unlike most grasshoppers, which have thick bodies, large heads, and wings, the Apioscelis bulbosa, also called a stick or jumping stick grasshopper, has a very thin body, a small head, and no wings. In fact, the stick grasshopper looks more like a stick than an insect. Stick grasshoppers can be found in South America.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Proscopiidae
Genus: Apioscelis
Species: Bulbosa
The stick grasshopper is a mimicking insect. It mimics sticks and twigs. With its thin, spindly, stick-like body and legs, the stick grasshopper camouflages itself from predators, such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and large insects.
The stick grasshopper grows to up to 11 inches (28 centimeters) long. Unlike most grasshoppers, which have thick bodies, this grasshopper is only thick around its joints. At these spots, it looks as though the thin, green legs and body parts of the stick grasshopper have been stuck together with thick blobs of yellowish glue. These blobs connect the grasshopper's head, thorax, or middle section, and abdomen, or tail section, as well as its six, skinny legs. Although many grasshoppers have large, veiny wings covering their abdomens, the stick grasshopper does not have wings. It moves only by walking and jumping.
Like other grasshoppers, the stick grasshopper has a pair of short antennae and two compound eyes. A compound eye is an eye with many lenses. The stick grasshopper is also like other grasshoppers in that it has long, bent hind legs, intended for jumping. The only place on the stick grasshopper's body which appears to have strong muscles is around the bases of its hind legs at the points at which they join the creature's body. These muscles look like tiny thigh muscles.
The stick grasshopper lives in South America and specifically can be found in Ecuador. This insect is typically found resting on leaves in the rain forests.
The stick grasshopper is a herbivore, or plant eater. It feeds mostly on the leaves, stems, flowers, and fruits of the vegetation in the rain forest. Like other grasshoppers, it chews its food with its powerful mandibles, or jaws. These jaws form the largest part of the stick grasshopper's head.
Like other short-horned grasshoppers, the stick grasshopper lays its eggs by the use of its ovipositor, or egg-laying appendage. This appendage, which is actually part of the female's abdomen, releases the eggs in groups, or pods. These pods may be laid deep in the ground by the female pushing her abdomen into the earth, or they may be laid along the edge of a leaf. After the young stick grasshoppers hatch from their eggs, they molt, or shed their skins, many times before reaching their adult size.
Threatened by a variety of larger insects, birds, and reptiles of the rain forest, the stick grasshopper uses its shape as camouflage. Sometimes it even sways in the breeze to appear even more like a twig or stick.
Male stick grasshoppers may only live for two months, while females live up to one year. They are not a threatened species.
Bibliography
“Apioscelis Bulbosa (Scudder, 1869).” Global Biodiversity Information Facility, www.gbif.org/species/1696173. Accessed 11 May 2024.
Meyers, P. “ADW: Apioscelis Bulbosa: Classification.” Animal Diversity Web, 2024, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Apioscelis‗bulbosa/classification. Accessed 11 May 2024.