Anisomorpha buprestoides
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Anisomorpha buprestoides, the southern two-striped walkingstick, devil rider, or musk mare, is a stick insect (order Phasmatodea: otherwise known as "phasmids" or walkingsticks) which occurs throughout the southeastern United States.
Anisomorpha buprestoides is a large, stout (for a stick insect) brown phasmid with three conspicuous longitudinal black stripes. Females average 67.7 mm (2.67 in) in length; males are smaller and more slender, averaging 41.7 mm (1.64 in).
This species, and another in the same genus (Anisomorpha ferruginea, whose range is more west and north, but may overlap with A. buprestoides) is particularly well known for its very potent chemical defense spray which it deploys from a pair of glands which open at the front of its thorax. They are capable of selectively targeting the eyes, and are known to be capable of causing significant injury if successful. The "Devil rider" nickname for this insect likely comes from this defense, as well as the fact that they are most frequently encountered in the late summer and fall when they are active adults at a time when almost all of them are found in mating pairs, with the smaller male riding on the back of... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States |
No species of the same family or order lives in Big Cypress National Preserve, so these are its closest relatives here: other insects.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Two-Striped Walkingstick sighting in Big Cypress National Preserve on a given day, based on 24 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 40th most-seen of the 262 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July and August
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Southern Two-Striped Walkingstick in Big Cypress National Preserve on a given day, against under 5% in January and September, the lowest months. Those are among Big Cypress National Preserve's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 40 mm in March.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Southern Two-Striped Walkingstick sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
2nd of 3
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Southern Two-Striped Walkingstick sightings, Big Cypress National Preserve ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Everglades National Park (United States, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Southern Two-Striped Walkingstick is recorded against all the insects logged in Big Cypress National Preserve (24 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
