Alien Stick Bug on Basil Leaf Lives Simple But Fulfilling Life

This stick bug totally caught me off guard because of his very simple appearance. I’m assuming he’s just a juvenile which is why he is so small and has no limbs yet. I micro manage my basil and one morning saw what I misread as a pine needle poking into my basil leaf. Yes, that’s a weird thing for a pine needle to do (and there are no such needles laying around this area) but it was early and I was still holding my first cup of coffee of the day. Don’t judge. So I absent-mindedly reached for it to pluck it off, because again, it really was standing straight up. And I was surprised when instead of coming off the leaf it pulled back and curled into a hook. That’s when I knew this guy was no washed up needle!

As fate would have it, he was really tricky to photograph, maybe I couldn’t keep a steady hand or maybe my lens isn’t advanced enough to get detail in something so small. In any case, there are a lot of things about his form that I appreciate, I’ve noted them under each pic.

Enjoy!

(In this one he looks like a disembodied mummy hand…)

(Here I’m trying to get a shot of the end I assumed was his head.)

(Upon closer inspection I can’t really make out any facial features but I do enjoy the pattern on his body and the segments comprising his torso: neither of which was visible to my naked eye when I first accidentally harassed him.)

(This picture is useful in exposing his arms or feeding apparati at the "head" of his torso—the end that is sometimes up in the air, sometimes attached to a leaf.)

(The appearance of a small black spec but the anchor end of his torso confirms my suspicions that this end is the “exit.”)

Epilogue: He ended up staying on the exact same basil plant in a sunny spot for about 5-6 days before vanishing into nature… Or maybe he’s still somewhere in the garden but just looks even more like a stick than before!

As always, all content is original and my own. I take all my pictures with my snazzy Cannon PowerShot SX410 IS. If you want to see more consider upvoting and/or following me.