Stick Worm, Just Another Inchworm of Geometer Moth
You have to look closely. It doesn't move........until you touch it and then maybe it will move. But it takes a lot to get it to go. This is an inchworm which actually embodies something like 20,000 species of lepidopterans - moths and butterflies, And this is the larval stage of the adult flyer. It's got to hide out from predators while it chews away on the leaves of whatever plant it finds itself on. It's not going far, so it's got to be really still and in this case take in the rose bush surroundings.
Geometer moth larvae, commonly called inchworms or loopers, are distinguishable from most other larval lepidopterans. In avocado we have omnivorous looper. Most lepidopteran larvae have five pairs of forelegs from their posterior ends to their midbodies, whereas inchworms have only two or three pairs of prolegs near their posterior ends. Because of this morphological difference, inchworms exhibit a unique form of locomotion distinct from the undulating movement of most lepidopteran larvae. Inchworms move by anchoring with their thoracic legs and bringing their prolegs forward, just behind their thoracic legs, forming an arch in the middle of their bodies. They then anchor with their prolegs and extend the anterior part of their body forward before anchoring again with their thoracic legs. Inchworms are typically slender and often have coloration and patterns – pink, clear, green – and some that resemble twigs or the stems of leaves.
Recently we got this image of a “stick” on a rose bush. NOT. It’s the larval stage of an inchworm, hiding as a stick. Of course you don’t see it.
The image also included a short video of the “stick” being pushed around. Check it out. Thank you Jane Delahoyde.