More amazing photos (but alas, not from any of my cameras). Can you guess what this is? HINT: it’s not some kind of coffee bean or seed. I found it at Alex Wild’s blog this week.
Keep reading for some more hints and photos.
This is the original mystery photo (from Alex Wild’s blog). Here we see where the object originates. Alex is a biologist at the University of Illinois, where he studies the evolutionary history of various groups of insects.
This is a photo answer and Alex’s solution of the mystery:
[This is] a stick insect laying an egg. The species is the Northern Walking Stick Diapheromera femorata, a common local insect [see here for full range] easily collected by beating tree branches. Weve taken a few home as pets, and the females are obligingly dropping several eggs a day.
Apparently some people think they make ideal pets. See here.
Check out his very interesting blog and photo gallery for more!
Stick insects are relatively common as pets in the UK. More often, however, they are kept in colonies in biology laps, though the year I was supposed to do whatever you did with them ours all died. Consequently, I know nothing about stick insects and didn’t recognise the picture!
Laps? Labs, obviously.
Ros, you must subconsciously want to be in the pool swimming.
Would you like me to give you a stick insect so you can re-live your biology experience and bring closure to that unfulfilled chapter of your education?