I love that stick insect pic Kieren. Do you see them regularly? As a child, growing up in the sixties/seventies, they were all the rage as pets. I honestly didn't realise they lived outdoors here. Fab
Flutterbies have been thin on the ground here this summer - thin on the plants too unfortunately.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Ha! It seems that the 'unarmed stick insect' is the commonest stick insect found in devon/cornwall.
Hi Fairygirl, nope, first time i've seen one, I didn't realise they lived in the 'wild' here either, apparently they are fairly widespread around the truro/falmouth area and around plymouth having escaped from plants shipped in from New Zealand 100 years ago. :-)
Papi Jo, "unarmed stick insect" is its common name. The other naturalised species in southern England is the "prickly stick insect", so I suppose both names are descriptive. Acanthoxyla inermis is the "proper" name for Kieren's specimen.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Papi Jo, "unarmed stick insect" is its common name. The other naturalised species in southern England is the "prickly stick insect", so I suppose both names are descriptive. Acanthoxyla inermis is the "proper" name for Kieren's specimen.
That pretty much sums up the advantage of capitalising common names when referring to species, just as scientific names are distinguished by being italicised - Unarmed Stick Insect would have been unambiguous.
Onopordum, I agree... in an ideal world! And on this site, where we have contributors like Papi Jo who are not native English speakers, we need to be careful to try to make ourselves easy to understand.
In my final job before retiring, in the local Garden Centre, I had to bite my tongue on occasion when dealing with members of the public who maintained they couldn't get their tongue round the botanical names of plants. "We can't be doing with those long names... we just call it 'Pinky'!".
Right. I will now introduce you to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the famous footballer. No, sorry, you have to call him by his proper name - Joe Bloggs just won't do...
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Thanks very much, Liriodendron and Onopordum for clarifying things re the "unarmed stick insect"'. I was intending to make a little joke in my previous post, but should have done better to check both the scientific and common names of that interesting insect posted by our friend Kieren.
Those "stick insects" are indeed fascinating creatures, which I have never come across in my part of Brittany but have seen quite a few in la Vendée département where my sister lives (and where our friend Obelixx has recently "migrated" to).
Posts
Two of the 15 to 20 (ever tried counting more then a few?!) Red Admiral butterflies enjoying nectar from the ivy blossom last weekend.
@Kieren1980,
"An unarmed stick insect, found whilst digging out my squash!"
Unarmed as in harmless? Insects don't have "arms", so your post leaves me befuddled.
Lovely photos everyone.
I love that stick insect pic Kieren. Do you see them regularly? As a child, growing up in the sixties/seventies, they were all the rage as pets. I honestly didn't realise they lived outdoors here. Fab
Flutterbies have been thin on the ground here this summer - thin on the plants too unfortunately.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Ha! It seems that the 'unarmed stick insect' is the commonest stick insect found in devon/cornwall.
Hi Fairygirl, nope, first time i've seen one, I didn't realise they lived in the 'wild' here either, apparently they are fairly widespread around the truro/falmouth area and around plymouth having escaped from plants shipped in from New Zealand 100 years ago. :-)
Last edited: 28 September 2017 19:54:37
Really lovely Kieren. He/she must enjoy the restaurant in your garden! You'll need to be careful when you're wielding a spade though....
Hope you get to see them regularly. Fascinating little things.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Papi Jo, "unarmed stick insect" is its common name. The other naturalised species in southern England is the "prickly stick insect", so I suppose both names are descriptive. Acanthoxyla inermis is the "proper" name for Kieren's specimen.
That pretty much sums up the advantage of capitalising common names when referring to species, just as scientific names are distinguished by being italicised - Unarmed Stick Insect would have been unambiguous.
Onopordum, I agree... in an ideal world!
And on this site, where we have contributors like Papi Jo who are not native English speakers, we need to be careful to try to make ourselves easy to understand.
In my final job before retiring, in the local Garden Centre, I had to bite my tongue on occasion when dealing with members of the public who maintained they couldn't get their tongue round the botanical names of plants. "We can't be doing with those long names... we just call it 'Pinky'!".
Right. I will now introduce you to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the famous footballer. No, sorry, you have to call him by his proper name - Joe Bloggs just won't do...
Thanks very much, Liriodendron and Onopordum for clarifying things re the "unarmed stick insect"'. I was intending to make a little joke in my previous post, but should have done better to check both the scientific and common names of that interesting insect posted by our friend Kieren.
Further research confirmed what Liriodendron wrote about the descriptive intent of the name. Viz. http://phasmidstudygroup.org/phasmids/uk-phasmid-sighting where we learn the distinction between:
Unarmed Stick Insect Acanthoxyla inermis
and
Prickly Stick Insect Acanthoxyla geisovii
Those "stick insects" are indeed fascinating creatures, which I have never come across in my part of Brittany but have seen quite a few in la Vendée département where my sister lives (and where our friend Obelixx has recently "migrated" to).