#prickly stick insect

[carciinogen]

Her name is Brillis (aka Ms. Girl)

#my critters <3 #prickly stick insect #stick insect #stick bug #invertblr #bugblr #bug husbandry #bugs #entomology

[xiphosuras]

Birds & Bug

#prickly stick insect #king pigeon #royal palm turkey #budgies #galah #animals #sketches #tw bug #birds #insects #observational drawings #colour pencil #brush marker

[pinkjacket110]

she dont know NOTJIN. not a goddamn clue what the economic state of the world is rn. i cannot cope abt how cute the tiny ones are i am gonn fuckin cry

#stick bug #phasmid #phasmatodea #entomology #bug #insect #bugs #extatosoma tiaratum #spiny stick insect #prickly stick insect #i didnt take my meds today

[emmanuel-the-manual]

Bugs! 🐞

#digital drawing #bugs #australian insects #christmas beetle #blue banded bee #mullersstagbeetle #jewel beetle #commonlongicorn #giant prickly stick insect #insects #insect drawing #tasmanianladybird #bug drawing #fiddlerbeetle

[ultimatebugpoll]

ROUND 2 OF THE TUMBLR INSECT POLL

REMEMBER youre voting for your favorite OVERALL GROUP OF INSECTS not the individual species pictured above

#bugblr #entomology #entymology #insect #phasmatodea #stickbug #giant prickly stick insect #earwigs #dermaptera

[gothghostiiexo]

my giant prickly stick insect moulted for the first time ever since I got her!! (second time ever) so now she's in L3 and so big🥹

I'm genuinely so happy and proud of her, shes so pretty!! just look at her

#gothghostiie #ghostiie rambles #giant prickly stick insect #phasmid #moulting #insect #insects

[gothghostiie]

guess who has a pet now :)

#gothghostiie #ghostiie has a pet #!!! #they're so small #insect #giant prickly stick insect #macleays spectre #its literally called Australian ghost scare in German #ghostiie rambles

[averagepsychouser]

if Arcade was an animal, what do you think he would be?

INVERTEBRATE HE IS GIANT PRICKLY STICK INSECT

VERTEBRATE HE IS SOUTHERN TAMANDUA

EVIDENCE IS GOD TOLD ME INNA DREAM

#fallout new vegas #fallout nv #arcade gannon #arcade israel gannon #arcade fnv #fnv arcade #courier six

[ruthlesslistener]

do you have any headcanons for anything you've been holding onto, but haven't had a good chance to post about? I love your fics and I wanna peer into your mind palace

Shhdhchs EXCELLENT bc ive had a lot of thoughts but this quarter + anxiety in general has been killin me

-Okay so I'm still hyperfixated on Destiny 2 bc of a DnDestiny game I'm in, but since Hollow Knight is a special interest and I read a couple of frankly stunning crossover fics (one with the Inheritance Cycle, one with Transformers, both are outstanding and I will recc them wholeheartedly if you ask- the TF one especially blew my tits clean off which is saying something bc I have zero TF knowledge, also its 500k words but I'm rambling), my brain has been essentially locked into the concept of a crossover AU where a couple of my D2 OCs get slingshot into the HK world via a fucked-up warpgate through wish-dragon magic, and it's now got me kind of obsessed with the idea of the world of Hollow Knight taking place on an alien planet that had some convergent evolution re: general insect body plans, but went off the fuckin' rails with everything else. So here's some worldbuilding thoughts on that:

-Their planet would be far from Earth and the origin place of the Ahamkara and precursor race to the Worm Gods, who are distant relatives to each other that took to the stars to opportunistically feed off of rifts in reality. They are in turn sister taxa to the Wyrms and Higher Beings from Hollow Knight, who also feed off of the wants, desires, and gulf between what-is-desired-and-what-is-true, but unlike the worms and wish-dragons, the Higher Beings are essentially 'settled' species. They're the farming civilization to the hunter-gatherers of their Destiny-based kindred, and yes, both branches of the family tree fucking despise each other and look down scornfully on the other's lifestyle. The Higher Beings view the Worms and Ahamkara as little more than scavengers, while the Worms and Ahamkara see the Higher Beings as glorified slavedrivers with sticks up their asses- though it should be noted that since the Ahamkara's whole deal so far has been malignant trickery as a hunting style, this doesn't neccessarily carry the same negative connotations that it would in our society. I also don't know enough about the proto-Worms to say how their race would react, but the Worm Gods as they are now certainly are something that Wyrms would look down on

-(Yes that means I have thought extensively about the Pale King's ghost bristling aggressively at a baby ahamkara barely a few hours old. In my defense, it's funny, and also I almost never remember to write him as the cold, prickly, arrogant ass that he is bc his kids make him Big Sad)

-The planet would likely be smaller than Earth with lighter gravity, though how much smaller I can't say because I'm not a fuckin' physicist. I just want an excuse for making fuckoff-huge animals a thing even beyond the inherent space magic thing going on

-Oh, and most life is underground because the atmosphere is thinner than Earth and so the upper surface gets bombarded with deadly amounts of radiation, which causes the mind-wiping effects of the Wastes (where the angle towards their sun is the greatest and thus the strongest). Ngl I did briefly think about potential magnetic field fluxes also being the cause of that effect but like, I cannot overstate how little I know of things outside biology

-HK being set on an alien planet lets me do wack shit with the species there too bc I'm no longer bound by comparing them to Earthbound species. For example, I can make Quirrel an isopod with cricket legs. Who's going to stop me, God? He doesn't exist here

-That also means I can stop being bothered by Herrah's dubious leg placement bc it would kill me forever otherwise

-Also, them being on an alien planet gives me even more of an excuse to never put traditional vertebrate species in there, which is great. I've said it before, but putting Earth vertebrates in the HK setting totally ruins all the fun for me because I love the concept of all the species diversity being made up of invertebrates, and that the 'advanced' bugs we see have filled the niche that vertebrates would have otherwise taken over. Like the carboniferous period but on steroids

General HK thoughts too:

-been toying with the idea of wyrms having a set of evertable inner jaws like polychaete worms, which would be used for keeping dirt out of the mouth and biting off chunks to eat, while the outer jaws (the ones we see) are used for killing, digging, and sparring with other wyrms. The idea is that the outer ring of mandibles bites big circular chunks out of the substrate, which then breaks off into tiny pieces they filter out in between gaps in their mandibles and pack down into tunnel walls as they move forward

-I've also been toying with the idea of them secreting some kind of mucus as they dig that's almost a calcifying substance, but now that I think about it, I can probs just put those glands in their frontal mouth so if they need to reinforce a tunnel (like, say, one burrowed in sand instead of rock), they can mix their saliva in with the substrate to chemically solidify the tunnel walls

-Which btw is a major thing for ecosystems bc the tunnels are used for lots of different things by lots of different species. Wyrms are terraformers baybee!! Kinda the same way wildfires are, but still

-I've also been thinking about maybe making it so that the row of plates I like to draw on their backs act as a secondary pair of belly scutes, which means that wyrms can slither just as easily upside down as they can on their undersides, which helps underground. It's not as efficient as the super-smooth scales on a blind snake, but that's the tradeoff they get for needing to be so heavily armoured

-I'm also leaning towards making marine/freshwater variants that are just straight-up bobbit worms on even more steroids, but since I already have fuckoff huge marine alien bobbit worms in a scifi setting of mine, I'd need to figure out a way to make them unique

-I learned that there's internalized folds of exoskeleton for muscle attatchment in my invertebrate biology course and got really excited about that being a potential basis for the formation of skeletal elements in the world of Hollow Knight- like, maybe bug bones started off as those lil folds (i forgot their technical name which is embaressing bc i literally just took the final this night) becoming stronger and deeper-set into the body to better support the weight of larger and larger bugs, and then it spiraled into a skeleton analogue from there. Being derived from the exoskeleton probably means that it would be less strong than our bones, but it would likely also be lighter

Misc:

-God I really need to write Hornet in Silksong so bad. Fuck. I need need need to write this mildly autistic unsocialized princess running amok in a civilization that isn't ready for her. Also my interpretation of Lace is basically an oc at this point but I don't want to do anything with her just yet bc that shits a lot of work, I just need to write everything down for her so far (and tbh Lurien probs also counts at this point but thats more filling a niche that TC left unfufilled)

-I've also got gijinka thoughts in that I'm leaning towards making Lurien a trans guy who didn't have any gender-affirming surgeries bc a.) I love love love making a variety of trans characters and b.) Hallownest isn't a society where the concept of being transgender is an issue, so there's no need to do it to pass, only to prioritize your own comfort. And since Lurien never expected to be seen in anything but his formalware, he never saw the point of bothering

-(The aformentioned point also applies to normal bug Lurien but this is more of a personal thing here)

-Need to focus more on how the latent magic of the god of a realm changes your eye colour, with the more intense the shade = the more involved you are with their magic. Using Lurien as an example again: his eyes were brown naturally, but after he became Watcher, they slowly shifted to shades of paler and paler blue. I also like the idea of Quirrel's eyes getting more blue the more memories of Hallownest he unlocks, until they're the same shade as the Blue Lake in his final scene

-This can also happen in reverse; for example, my Lace gijinka starts off with gold eyes to signify the church of Pharloom's hold over her, but then slowly revert back to brown as Hornet gives her more and more hope that the institution can be toppled, until they're eventually their natural deep brown with just the faintest flecks of silver in them (signifying Hornet's importance in her life)

-It just occurred to me the other day when I was at work that Striga and Morgana from Castlevania S3 are almost exactly how I imagined my Vespa and Herrah gijinkas to be and now I can't stop thinking about it. The main difference is that my Herrah is a fat spider-orc with tats and Vespa is a fae queen with bee features shimmering through her human veil, but still. Its uncanny

#anon #reply #hollow knight #hollow knight headcanons #ramblings #there were more but alas im eepy and brainburnt from tests #theyll come back to me eventually

[honesttoglob]

Kinger finally gets an insect collection.

Caine made it for him, but he's never actually seen an insect before, so they all look like an AI made them (which it did lol)

Caine, trying to fish out what bugs are like: And what would you say this… stick bug looks like exactly? Kinger: Hmmmnm… Prickly!

When Caine is presenting the insect collection to Kinger, he realizes he forgot to name them beforehand:

Caine: And this one is uhhh… a butter… beetle. Yes, that's it, a butter beetle! They're exceptionally rare! (This is the only one actually…)

Kinger: Huh?

Caine: Oh, nothing, nothing!

#the amazing digital circus #tadc caine #tadc kinger #caine x kinger #Idk if they have a fancy ship name lmk and I'll add it #royalteeth #kingleader #Thanks to Briandraws and cody-the-gato for telling me the ship names!

[crevicedwelling]

Hello! My cowoker's phasmids had babies awhile back and so I've recently come in possession of an Extatosoma tiaratum. Do you have any pointers on what to fill her enclosure with to make sure she's healthy and entertained? I'm feeding her Himalayan blackberry leaves because we have that everywhere. She's already the size of half my fist and I was told she'll grow even bigger.... Already quite the poop machine lol.

I have no experience with phasmids but other than having lots of food always available I’m not sure if anything else is really necessary! they want to hang around on their food, and eat their food, and that’s about it. maybe have some sturdier sticks about for molting in case she eats everything firm enough to hold her weight?

also, if you haven’t heard of the “lichen morph” E. tiaratum, it’s something I’ve always wanted to see! apparently raising nymphs in lichen-rich environments can trigger a change to a very different color morph. I’m not sure if all members of the species have the genetic basis to trigger the morph, and yours may already be too large to start it

[carciinogen]

Sometimes leaf get stuckt to my mout...,

#.txt #my critters <33 #australian prickly stick insect #giant prickly stick insect #prickly stick insect #stick bug #stick bugs #invertblr #pet bugs #entomology

[leadandblood]

Okay so far I got:

Goodsir - Bombus terrestris (buff-tailed bumblebee)

Hickey - Sabethes cyaneus (south american mosquito, doesn't have an english name, as far as i know. It's really fancy tho)

Crozier - Laothoe populi (poplar hawk moth)

Hodgson - springtail (haven't decided which one yet)

Gibson - Extasoma tiaratum (giant prickly stick insect)

(english should fire whoever's coming up with animal names. they're horrible at their job)

If you feel a particular connection between a cold boy and an insect, fire away! :D always love a collective effort

#the terror #the terror amc #harry goodsir #francis crozier #billy gibson #cornelius hickey #insect au

[ftmwtch]

Some Texan Folklore, Remedies, & other Superstitions

I'm unsure if these are strictly Texan specific, or if they may even be something only my small town does, but figured I'd share some of the stuff I heard growing up in South Texas

chewin' tobacco juice for insect stings, mainly bee, wasp, fire ant, and scorpion - its meant to draw the sting out. mud also works in a pinch

aloe or vinegar for sunburns

teaspoon of honey with lemon for a cough

for a cold, a shot (or glass) of whiskey with sugar and lemon. ive also heard it be used for aches, pains, curing a toothache, and ensuring a good nights sleep

biting into a pepper or taking a shot of hotsauce to clear stuffed sinuses

sea salt and a few drops of hot sauce into warm water to gargle for a sore throat

prickly pear juice for ulcers or an upset stomach, and a prickly pear poultice for sores or burns

sweet tea to cool you down and keep you hydrated, and a glass on the porch during sunset is said to be a sure fire way to ease stress or loneliness (a swig of bourbon is sometimes added on rough or celebratory nights)

a glass of buttermilk will cool you down when your overheating or settle an upset stomach

oatmeal bath for poison oak, ivy, etc

a pinch of baking soda in your pitcher is said to give you sweeter sweet tea

dont point at a grave - your finger will rot and fall off

when visiting a graveyard turn your pockets inside out so no spirits can hitch a ride home in your pants

brass cowbells get hung around cows necks to keep them producing milk so its believed ringing them can attract good luck as well

if your ears are ringing, it means someone is talking about you

to make an incoming storm miss your property, stick an axe in the ground - its said to split the cloud

a ring around the moon means bad weather is coming

a buzzards shadow crossing you brings bad luck

Horsehair rope to keep rattlesnakes away. I mainly hear this one about camping and keeping it tied outside your tent to ward them off, but I've known a few older folk who tie it to their bedposts year round

a rightside up (U) horseshoe above your door brings good luck to you and your family and wards away evil. if you hang it upside down or it falls upside down, all your luck is said to have fallen out. its luckier too if you spit on it before hanging it up

dont camp or walk by a river at night, and if you hear a womans cries coming from the river, dont investigate, as most rivers tend to have a vengeful spirit that wants company

Be wary of letting your kids roam during canicula - or the "dog days"/the hottest days of summer - and adults should be vigilant too. It's mainly to do with the heat, but I've also heard this time of year is when fatigue, fevers, and bad luck haunts your step, as well as tales of a serpent who preys on children during this time

A redheaded woodpecker pecking on your roof means a death will happen in your family. I've also heard this said for when a bird flies inside your home

Don't wear your hat backwards, set it on your bed, or set it brimside down - all of the luck will spill out. Setting it on your bed may even bring death upon you or your loved ones. Set it upside down (if you can't hang it up) to keep all your luck inside (I think this one is primarily for cowboy hats, but I've seen most people set their baseball caps upside down too)

tamales are made and eaten at Christmas to represent family coming together

Rain is coming if all your cows lay down in the field, or if spiders, flies, or spiders come into your home

Plant your root vegetables during a new moon and your leafy vegetables during a full moon, both at night, for a better harvest

if your horses mane or tail is in knots, they were visited by fairies (the horses hair tangles because fairies are said to use it as reins to ride the horse). its best to leave the lil riders some milk and honey as thanks for exercising your horse

when you kill a snake, you have to bury its head seperate from the body or either the spirit of the snake will come back for revenge or all of its snake friends will retaliate

An itching right palm will shake a new hand (a new friend or acquaintance will be made) while an itching left palm means money is coming your way

buy a new broom when you move houses for a clean start. bringing your old broom with you will bring all your old problems and bad luck

Salt thrown over your right shoulder stops bad luck (and salt thrown over your left doubles bad luck)

Knocking on wood unjinxes you or wards off evil spirits

Toads and crickets in your garden mean good luck is coming your way

when its sunny and raining at the same time, my family said it meant the devil was kissing his wife, but others also said it meant the devil was beating his wife

Open your windows when it rains so negative energy will leave and the positive energy of the rain will come in

its unlucky to wear yellow

always shave before a competition, job interview, or first date - its said that youre cleaning up to impress Lady Luck

dont eat chicken on new years or before a competition - its unlucky

never buy boots secondhand - youll get all of the old owners troubles

stepping in manure is said to bring you good fortune, especially if your boots are new

black eyed peas and cornbread on new years eve for good luck and greens (either cabbage or collard greens) for wealth in the new year

Have you heard of any of these? Does your family know of or do any of them? Feel free to add any other ones you might know!

#southern folk magic #did not realize most of the ones i know focus mainly on luck #might ask my parents for any others i might have forgotten #folk magic #witchcraft #texas witchcraft #texas folk magic #i know of some others but theyre focus more heavily on cattle or ranching or farming #or some werent really folktales so much as common sense folk sayins #southern witchcraft #texas witch #witch #magic #superstitions #witchblr

[heller-castiel]

fun facts about australia: we have various species of stick insect but my favourite species is the giant prickly stick insect!! they’re also called spiny leaf insect, macleay’s spectre or the australian walking stick!! they live pretty much entirely of eucalyptus but ive heard they can also eat bramble as well?? if they lose a leg when they’re young they can drop it and regrow it, but not when they’re adults. the females are bigger than the male and look more like bulky dead leaves than sticks. if there are no males the female can produce eggs, but they will only be female as they are clones of their mother. so they’re like half asexual. its called parthenogenesis!!! these bugs are entirely harmless (even though the females do sort of resemble a scorpion) and you can keep them as a pet <3

footage of me running from australia

#newt i love that you love these bugs. however.

[jonnysinsectcatalogue]

Spiny Leaf Insect - Extatosoma tiaratum

It's been many years since I've laid my eyes on one of these magnificent creatures, and even longer since my days at UofT where I held one in my hand. As such, it was gratifying to see so many individuals on display at the Toronto Zoo and to soak in all their details and movements (mostly wobbles and slow, methodical steps) while observing them. With many female individuals, and a few different instars among them, I should have taken a video, but there was lots of exciting screaming in the background from the otters and reptiles. As much as I love animals, this blog is all about the insects, and so today we have pictures of these Giant Prickly Stick Insects. Today, they are known by many names such as Australian Walking Sticks, Spiny Leaf Insects, Macleay’s Spectres (named for British entomologist William Macleay and referencing their order Phasmatodea, whose name is derived form apparitions or more commonly, ghosts) or E. tiaratum. What ever you call them, just don't call them "Leaf Insects". Those are a different branch of Phasmid, of the family Phylliidae. Amazing as the former are, these large armored insects also have a certain special quality to them. Maybe it's just how large and unusual they are compared to our fauna, but I certainly think that they're eye-catching when they can actually be found and observed. In the wild, finding them is far more difficult since their mottled, spiked, dried-in-appearance leafy armor is meant to hide them from their predators.

These peaceful, plant-eating giants need every advantage they can secure since they aren't aggressive and are burdened with slow movement due to their armor. In most cases, if anything gets close, the "scorpion" posture combined with a mild chemical defense and their sharp spines may be just enough. But what if you're a thinner, more agile male? If you've been observant, there is one such darker individual in the background of Picture 1! They're quite different in appearance from females, being much smaller and slimmer, and they are also quite rare! Moreover, a mild reliance on using parthenogenesis to reproduce and lay eggs, they can become even rarer! The thin male has functioning wings and can use them when in danger by either flying away or flashing them to a predator, startling them. Naturally, wings also allow for a wider dispersal and an expansion to the search for fertile females. In an environment within captivity, the presence of a male may be likely to discourage parthenogenesis and in fertilized eggs that will hatch earlier after females drop them to the soil floor. There were no eggs to be found, so if you plan to visit and search for them, look for brown and white, seed-like objects fitted with a capsule-like projection (capitulum). They are likely to be removed and stored, as the eggs of E. tiaratum are reported to need cooler conditions to successfully hatch. Their terrarium may simulate a warm, tropical environment too well in that case. In the wild, Ants fulfill this condition, bringing the "seeds" underground into their food stockpile.

These insects are exhibited in the Toronto Zoo, so I’ve marked them with the Mantis icon. Pictures were taken August 27, 2023 at the Toronto Zoo with a Google Pixel 4. Please go and visit the animals (insects very much included).

#jonny’s insect catalogue #ontario insect #stick insect #spiny leaf insect #macleay's spectre #phasmatodea #phasmid #insect #toronto #toronto zoo #august2023 #2023 #nature #entomology #invertebrates