Back in the fall, we saw a lot of sexy scenes among the stick insects on our land. Everywhere, it seemed, the smaller males were searching out larger females, and put gametes together to make the little zygotes that would grow into the next generation of these extraordinarily well-camouflaged insects…
Here’s a pair on the side of the house:
And, same pair, with a flash illuminating their nuptials… Note the “bandit” like eyestripe on the male.
It’s interesting to me to compare their coloring and patterning. The male’s a richer brown, with stripes and green bits, while the female looks more like a typical gray stick.