Forest Pests: Insects, Diseases & Other Damage Agents

The walkingstick, a defoliator of broad-leveled trees, consumes the leaf blade, leaving only parts of stout veins. Defoliation sometimes occurs twice in one season, and an extensive outbreak can defoliate a large area. Three to four heavy defoliations may kill branches. Infestations are localized because walkingsticks are wingless. Preferred hosts include black oak, basswood, elm, black locust, and wild cherry. Walkingsticks also feed on white oak, aspen, paper birch, ash, dogwood, and hickory.

Adults are slender, twig-like insects, pale green when young, gradually changing to various colors of dark green, gray, or brown at maturity. They are approximately 3 inches long. They mate late in July or mid-August, and females lay eggs about a week later. The hard-shelled, seedlike eggs are dropped to the ground where they overwinter. Egg laying continues until the onset of cold weather. In the North, eggs hatch during the second spring following deposition, usually in May or early June. In the South, most eggs hatch the following spring. Nymphs, resembling minature adults, feed in sweetfern, blueberry, strawberry, and juneberry until mid-summer, then move to host trees to feed. Two years are generally required for development of this insect, and there are even-year and odd-year broods in various parts of the Northeast.

Adult(s); Photo by Bruce W. Kauffman, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Damage; defoliation - Mena, Arizona Photo by James Solomon, USDA Forest Service

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