phasmatodea

Male (left) and female Diapheromera femorata Myrmecos blog commentators identified Sunday's mystery photo almost instantly as a stick insect laying an egg.  The species is the Northern Walking Stick Diapheromera femorata, a common local insect easily collected by beating tree branches. We've taken a few home as pets, and the females are obligingly dropping several eggs a day. The eggs of D. femorata resemble plant seeds Photo details (top): Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/200 sec (bottom): Canon MP-E 65mm 1-5x macro lens on a Canon EOS 50D ISO 100, f/13…