Digestive physiology of the Phasmatodea

Matan Shelomi 
PhD Candidate 
Department of Entomology, UC Davis 

Matan Shelomi provides insight into the remarkably complex digestive system of the phasmatodea, an insect also known as the “walking stick.” He has produced an award-winning two-minute film, “Mystery tubes in the stick bug’s gut,” that has circulated widely online. Shelomi explains that this insect eats a diet of leaves, a diet that presents many digestive problems. He has studied how the insect’s physiology has developed to process the leaves, some of which even contain poisons. He has concluded that the walking stick has a digestive system completely unlike that of other insects. 

Recorded: April 14, 2014