The Adaptations

The spiny leaf insect is a very smart organism as the adaptations it undergoes is very helpful for its survival.these adaptations are very stealth like is they all help them stay unnoticed . With the Spiny Leaf Insect's paper thin sharp spines and flattened legs, they look very similar to a wrinkly leaf; therefore will not appeal to a hungry and mighty predator. Which reduce the amount of perpetrators they will have towards them.

They undergo there adaptation transformation through three stages

Stage 1:After the spiny leaf insects hatch they make their own way to the tree, they mimic the appearance of an ant at this stage of its life. This is a protection from prey as birds get confused and don’t eat the stick insects as a result of this they can run freely climbing trees with a reduced risk of being hunted by prey.

Stage 2:While they get bigger visually because of the constraints of an exoskeleton they have a special process is required to grow. The process is called ecdysis or also known as molting, this is the shedding of the exoskeleton. Males do this five times in their life cycle and females do this six times to reach maturity. The insect needs to hang beneath a leaf or a branch to molt successfully.

Step 3:On their final molt males develop fully usable wings and hold their abdomens straight to accommodate them. Females then only develop tiny unusable wings and cannot fly. They also continue to have the curled up posture and spines along their backs for all of their life.