It looks like this is a bit older, but if you haven’t seen it… This is a cool video of a very big stick insect hatching, unfolding from its teeny tiny egg. I just want to reach out and help him get those last bits of leg free! C’mon insect buddy – you can do it!
(Hmmm…The video isn’t loading correctly for me from vimeo right now. If you’re having trouble too, here’s a link to New Scientist which also has it posted)
The Lord Howe stick insect is otherwise known as a tree lobster, which is also the name of one of my favorite web comics.
Hat tap to JREF research fellow Kyle Hill on Twitter
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tinlizzy
August 24, 2012 at 19:26 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
This is AWESOME. Srsly – I unabashedly adore insects, even when/if I’m repulsed by them. There’s no need to look for aliens out there somewhere, we have all the aliens RIGHT HERE, they’re just small(er) than Predator or Aliens. This vid just brings me all sorts of joy.
F
August 24, 2012 at 19:45 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Are the eggs really all that small? I can’t find any images of a whole egg yet.
pipenta
August 24, 2012 at 20:25 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Those dang tarsal claws get stuck on everything!
Adam
August 24, 2012 at 21:40 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
watching that really made me feel claustrophobic
Trebuchet
August 25, 2012 at 19:33 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That was actually hard to watch! I had thought that once the abdomen cleared the eggshell, the legs could follow easily. Nope.
This is a Critically Endangered species, by the way, found only on a rock somewhere in the middle of the Pacific near the island it’s named after — from which it’s been eliminated by introduced rats.
Anonymous Atheist
September 1, 2012 at 20:46 (UTC -5) Link to this comment
NPR has a great article about this:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years
F – When I saw that video, I like you thought surely that’s just the tops of the eggs and they go deeper underground. It looks like the Mary Poppins bottomless bag trick, for so much insect to come out of there.
But in a brief search I haven’t found anything to indicate that.