images + insect + "Walking Stick" - Bing Images
Online data says there are 2700 varieties of the Stick insects.
I want to do some further looking.
Here is the "Water Scorpion" that forum member "witrouter" refers to, in their many varieties, including this Stick Looking one:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...s&qpvt="Water+Scorpion"+++++Insects&FORM=IGRE
The BrightHub website shows this:
The Water Scorpion
Water Scorpions (Nepa and Ranatra) Water scorpions are not true scorpions (a type of arachnid). They are an aquatic insect within the order Hemiptera or "bugs". They somewhat resemble a scorpion but have wings and only three pairs of legs instead of four. They were given this name because of their specialized grasping forelimbs. Below are more interesting water scorpion facts.
So the NEPA Water Scorpion is sort of a common Beetle shape,
and the RANATRA variety, looks similar to the Walking Stick we know about.
Description
Two genera are widely distributed in North America. Nepa water scorpions are about 0.6 to 0.8 inches long with a 0.3 to 0.4 inch 'tail'. Their bodies are flat and dark brown in color. Adults are fully winged but do not fly. Ranatra water scorpions are longer and much slender than the Nepa. They are about 1.2 to 1.4 inches long with a 0.4 to 0.6 inch 'tail' and are pale buff in color. Adults have wings and can fly on warm days.
Another website says:
"Arachnid
Arachnid, term for animals in the class including the scorpions, spiders, daddy longlegs, mites, and ticks, and certain other eight-legged land invertebrates. Fossils suggest that arachnids were among the first animals to live on land, perhaps in the early Devonian Period, nearly 400 million years ago. About 60,000 species are known, although many, especially mites, remain undiscovered or undescribed. Arachnids are found throughout the world in nearly every habitat, but they reach their greatest size and diversity in warm arid and tropical regions. ---from the "Everything About" website
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So imagine that. 400 million years ago, these were perhaps some of the first Class of critters to crawl out of the water to live on land.
So having read that, I still don't understand the information. Are they Arachnids, or Hemiptera?
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I would really like to know, because I can teach my grandkids about the Classes and other classifications.
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