Carausius morosus
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Carausius morosus (the 'common', 'Indian' or 'laboratory' stick insect) is a species of Phasmatodea (phasmid) often kept as pets. Culture stocks originate from a collection from Tamil Nadu, India. Like the majority of the Phasmatodea, C. morosus are nocturnal. Culture stocks are parthenogenetic females that can reproduce without mating. Only 1 in 1000 are male, and although in captivity, gynandromorphs (individuals with both female and male characteristics) are sometimes reared.
Females are elongated and about 80–100 mm (3–4 in) in length, ranging from a light green to a darkish brown in colour. The front legs have red patches at the base of the forelegs, and similar but yellow patches on the mid-legs. Eggs are 2 mm (0.08 in) in length, ovoid and brown, with a beige capitula at one end.
When the eggs hatch, the plug opens and dark, tiny, string-like young crawl out of the opening. The eggs are haploid. After hatching, the body of the stick insect can sometimes still be attached to the egg, but it is harmless and comes off mostly at the first moult.
When disturbed, the major defence method is feigning death, the body becoming rigid,... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ranomafana National Park | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | |
| 2 | Table Mountain National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Garden Route National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 2 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Lisbon | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 4 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Walking Stick sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 62 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 70th most-seen of the 311 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and October–April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Walking Stick in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in May and July–September, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian Walking Stick sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Indian Walking Stick sightings, Cape Town ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Porto (Portugal, about 10%).
Same order: Phasmida
The closest relatives of the Indian Walking Stick that you can see in Cape Town (order Phasmida, Stick Insects) are Cape Stick Insect (about 10%) and Thunberg's Stick Insect (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian Walking Stick is recorded against all the insects logged in Cape Town (62 verified sightings), 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.
