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Project Noah Nature School
Extatosoma tiaratum
A young female spiny stick insect has flattened leg sections and curled over abdomen to mimic dry leaves. This set focuses on the face to show the complex mouth parts.
This is a captive bred specimen.
This sub adult female is a fourth instar nymph and will shed two more times before fully grown. The final image is a male, with smoother profile and often darker. He will reach maturity at the next molt, having one less molt (five) than the females who have six.
Spotted on Jun 24, 2012
Submitted on Jun 24, 2012
7 Comments
Thanks reiko
Amazing and beautifu pictures!
The spiny leaf insect is also named Macleay's Phasmid.
Thanks pouiti and KarenL
I have moved #4 forward - you can see the whole insect on my hat.
Great series Martin - I especially like #4 as you can really appreciate the weirdness of this little guy in that one!
I didn't know that god, but yes they do look alike. I think Hanuman is a primate god rather than a phasmid god. Those mouthparts are called maxillary palpus and labial palpus. They are used to position the leaf for the mandibles to cut slices.
That's amazing martin. Especially the second shot - the face looks like Hanuman the Indian monkey god.