stick insect
Amazingly stick insects are alive and well, living in the wild in Cornwall. The county’s mild winters means that some rather exotic insects can be found roaming the countryside. In order to bring distribution data of the insects up to date Buglife, the insect lovers charity, are asking people to go looking for them and send in the results.
The last public survey was held 5 years ago and received a great response from local residents. Buglife’s South West Conservation Officer Andrew Whitehouse said “Five years ago we had a fantastic response from readers of the Cornish Guardian – the stick insect recording scheme received sightings and photographs from all over the county – we are hoping for a similar result in 2010.”
“Early Autumn is a good time of year to look for stick insects, as the weather gets colder they seek warmth by basking on south-facing walls – this makes them easier to spot.” he added.
Malcolm Lee, Cornish-based stick insect expert, says “Stick insects arrived in this country on imported plants from New Zealand. The first species to arrive, the Prickly stick-insect (Acanthoxyla geisovii), was recorded in Paignton in 1909 and on Tresco on the Isles of Scilly in 1943. A second species, the Smooth stick-insect (Clitarchus hookeri), turned up on Tresco in 1949, and yet a third species, the Unarmed stick-insect (Acanthoxyla inermis), was found in Truro in 1979, but it may have been in a nearby nursery since the 1920s.”
One of the things that Buglife hope to find out is if last winter – said to the the coldest for 30 years – has any impact on established population levels. The insects do not tolerate cold very well and many eggs would not have survived the cold temperatures. However stick insect populations have in the past proven to be resilient. The survey will also allow the researchers to discover any new colonies and see if they are expanding their range across the county. Currently there are believed to be three species of stick insect living in the UK all of them from New Zealand;
- Prickly Stick-insect
- Smooth Stick-insect
- Unarmed Stick-insect
The life of a stick insect is pretty short only lasting about 3 or 4 months but because they need to mate to breed – asexual reproduction – the short life does not prevent them being productive. Hundreds of eggs are laid during the summer and early autumn months ready to hatch in the early spring of the following year.
Apart from Cornwall you can find stick insects living naturally in Devon and on the Isle of Scilly. So far they do not appear to be causing any damage to native wildlife or plants.
Buglife are hoping that people will record any sightings and if possible take photographs of the insects. The reports can then be passed on to Buglife through the Phasmid Study Group web site. The best photo’s submitted to Buglife of stick insects during the survey will be published in the local media the Cornish Guardian and the Cornishman in October.
photo credit: Malcolm Lee
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