Ed Baker

"The nearly 3,000 living species of stick and leaf insect are the masters of disguise. Phasmids, as they are known, avoid hungry predators by mimicking leaves and twigs in colour and shape. Incredibly, some phasmids can grow back a lost leg and females can even clone themselves when no males are around. Find out how phasmids make great pets, see some specimens from our collections and meet a live one for yourself."

A video of the event is available:

Following the event I did last year at the Isle of Wight Zoo I went back again, with an assortment of live insects to talk to members of the public.

This has proved to be a successful event, and generates interest in the Phasmid Study Group and Blattodea Culture Group as well as the insects themselves.

Chaired by Claudia Hammond.

The main topic of the talk was the mimicry complex of phasmids mimicking leaves and twigs, their eggs mimicking seeds, the eggs being taken into ants nests to protect them from parasitic wasps that may mimic ants, and the hatchling phasmid nymphs mimicking ants.