Subclass Pterygota:
Pterous (winged) insects, develop by metamorphosis
Division Exopterygota
(exo = outer; pteron = wing)
Orthopteroid orders
(orthos = straight; pteron = wing)
Order Phasmida
(phasma = an apparition)
(Also known as order Cheleutoptera)
COMMON NAMES: stick insects and leaf insects
QUICK DESCRIPTION: Stick insects and leaf insects have either long, thin, brown bodies that look like sticks, or flat, green bodies that look like leaves. They are camoflaged for their own protections (unlike mantids, which are camoflaged to help them stalk prey.) Stick insects and leaf insects have biting mouthparts and large eyes. Some species have wings and others do not.
MINUTE DETAILS: Moderate-sized to very large insects, usually of elongate cylindrical form, occasionally leaflike; head with well-developed compound eyes and mandibulate mouthparts, ocelli often absent; prothorax short, mesothorax and metathorax long, with or without wings, all legs very similar with small widely separated coxae and in most species five-segmented tarsi; ovipositor small and concealed, male genitalia asymmetrical and hidden, cerci short and unsegmented; specialized auditory and stridulatory structures absent in most species.
[Back to the Family Tree]