Description

Phasmid
Insect
Eocene
Green River Formation
Rio Blanco, Colorado, USA

17mm phasmid on 65mm slab.

Arthropod. Insect. Orthopteran.

Walking sticks (phasmids) or stick insects are insects that date back at least to the Late Jurassic. They belong to the Order Orthoptera – relatives of grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets. Fossils are rare but they occur in the Green River Formation (as seen here) and nymphs have been collected in Baltic, Mexican, and Dominican ambers. They have become excellent mimics of twigs and sticks even swaying when a breeze comes through.

Today, walking sticks live in tropical and temperate regions of the continents. They must have spread out across the world as the continents separated and drifted apart during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. 

Here’s a fine example of an insect that has survived for over 150 million years by knowing when to stand still and when to go with the flow.