The Giant Prickly Stick Insect or Macleay's Spectre

The Giant Prickly Stick Insect or Macleay's Spectre
(Extasoma riaratum)

There are over 2,500 stick insects or phasmids. Their name is derived from the Greek word meaning phantom, which describes the behaviour of stick and leaf insects resembling twigs and leaves an d blending in with their surroundings. Most phasmids are nocturnal, feeding only at night and remaining motionless during the day. if they are disturbed, some species will sway from side to side like a leaf or twig being blown in the wind, others will stretch out like a stick and fall to the ground, where they will remain motionless and very difficult to find. The female giant prickly stick insect when threatened curls her tail up over her back and assumes the stance of a great scorpion. This species is to be found throughout the Australian and New Guinea regions.


Rearing

Stick insects can be kept in most glass or plastic containers from a sweet jar or pop bottle to a fish tank. Containers can be easily adapted by cutting off the base of the bottles and placing them over the food plant. They will feed on bramble leaves which are available all year and newly hatched nymphs take readily to young rose leaves. Cut short lengths of bramble, place them in a jar of water and plug the top with cotton wool to prevent the young nymphs from drowning. The ideal temperature to keep the insects in is between 20 to 25 degrees C. Humidity is very important and the insect should be sprayed twice a day to maintain the correct level. Avoid cold night temperatures and keep the container out of direct sunlight.


Breeding

Your stick insect should mature after several months having shed their skin five or six times in order to grow. The insect will hang upside down from a bramble stem, the skin splits behind the head and the insect crawls out of the old skin. Once free, it will take in air, expand its skin and wait for it to harden. Some species eat their old skins. The sexes of this species are quite different. The females are unable to fly, having only vestigial wings, whereas the males have large wings, which enable them to fly around and find females. Once a female has mated, she will produce eggs which she flicks from the end of her tail. These eggs resemble small seeds and can be collected up and placed in a warm area, such as an airing cupboard, where they will hatch in six to eight months. This species of stick insect is parthenogenic, that is, unfertilised females can lay eggs and when they hatch, all the offspring will be female.


Behaviour

These stick insects resemble dead leaves. If the female is threatened, she will curl her tail over her back and take on the posture of a scorpion. These insects were used in the film 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as fake scorpions.