“We are in Okinawa, Japan. My kids found this guy hanging out on our screen door. We figured o
“We are in Okinawa, Japan. My kids found this guy hanging out on our screen door. We figured out it is some kind of stick insect, but that is about all we have been able to determine. We’ve never seen one of these before, and my kids are intrigued. Can you give us any more information? Thank you! The O. Family” Thank you for the awesome photo of your stick insect in Okinawa. Okinawa is delightful for wildlife because like Hawaii to the American mainland, you get a whole ecosystem of bugs, birds, snakes, plants etc. that don’t occur on mainland Japan. I am not very familiar with them, but luckily you sent me one that’s pretty easy to identify!The stick insect in Japan is called “Nanafushi”, and there aren’t many of them in Japan at all. This encyclopedia page suggests there are only four, and I think yours is just a regular old “Nanafushi” stick insect of Okinawa,Entoria okinawaensis ( オキナワナナフシ) Like all insects, the stick insect has 6 legs, but yours is resting with the front two legs held straight out in front of its head to perfect its stick pose. This page about insects says that in Okinawan traditional culture, the stick insects are a sort of “horse” for the gods to ride and called ソーローンマー (So-ro-nma-).Further reading (Japanese) I’ve never seen a live stick insect so I’m very envious! Thanks again for your submission and have a great fall. -- source link
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