So i remember growing up at my grandfather’s house in Bartow Florida and we would see sticks all over his car and surrounding areas. Turn out the ones on his car were stick bugs. I was in 5th grade maybe 6th grade the last time i saw them. Now im 23 and realized that the stick bugs are no longer around. I haven’t done a deep investigation yet because my time is preoccupied but was wondering if anyone knows what happened to the stick bugs ?
How much more urbanized has Bartow become since then? Habitat loss is the biggest threat to most species.
Depending on what species they were, perhaps there was a really good host plant near to where your grandfather’s car was parked, and that plant is no longer present? Do you remember any trees / shrubs nearby that might have been removed around the same time?
If not, then it could sadly just be the overall habitat loss in the area, or the widespread pesticide use in residential areas which has had a terrible impact on many insect populations.
Explore showed 3 observations in Bartow. Expanding the search boundary showed more than 100 observations, almost all at RG: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=28.065016849613247&nelng=-81.39280078515624&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=27.731253299385585&swlng=-82.06571338281249&taxon_id=47198
I have never seen a stick insect but want to. Any tips?
Go south. Based on your profile you’re in Bangor and there’s no stick insects on iNat at all closer than maybe Portland. There’s lots of records in New Hampshire.
They’re easy to miss though; just look carefully at woody plants in their range.
Ah. I’ll see what I can do to find them, thanks!
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