Two-Striped Walkingstick, Palmetto Walkingstick, Devil Rider, Musk Mare
Anisomorpha buprestoides
Order
Family
Genus
Species
Regional
This bug has been reportedly found in the following regions:
Orange Beach, Alabama
Big Pine Key, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
Merritt Island, Florida
Oldsmar, Florida
Palm Bay, Florida
Umatilla, Florida
Bossier City, Louisiana
Kenner, Louisiana
Lafayette, Louisiana
Sulphur, Louisiana
Okatie, South Carolina
Austin, Texas
Baytown, Texas
Conroe, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Port Arthur, Texas
Wharton, Texas
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Gardener's Notes:
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lightyellow
Only seen one once in the backyard but I hope they return, they're so cool-looking. I fear that since everyone uses pesticides but me that they might be extirpated from my neighborhood.
Wish I could take the ones people keep trying to eliminate :P
trackinsand
if they didn't have the potential to cause such eye harm to me and my dogs, i would certainly leave them alone but having five or six every night around the house outside is just too much to deal with.
twopuppies
they smell bad but are not as dangerous to
pester as yours are- in a jar they die if they spray
so they are not immune to t he stuff!
Dianas_Dirt
fwfw1
and really didn't believe it to be true when I first heard it. Oh, well.
SafetyO
Although I've seen these bugs before over several years, it's been very long in between sightings and is rare that we encounter them. I saw a mating pair, at night, on my front porch on July 2nd. I left them alone. I have oleanders and monkey grass, so there is lots of ground cover to hide in near the front porch. On the 4th of July, our Maltese stuck his face near what we believe was a Two-Striped Walkingsitck on the back patio. It was dark and the event was captured on security camera, but you can't see exactly what the insect was, only the dog's reaction. We did see a large 3 to 4 inch long slim dark object scurry away under the fence board when it actually happened. We reviewed the security tape in hopes we'd see more.
<... read more
mizar5
I had one of these shoot that stuff at me. I was bending down working in the yard and didn't see there were tons of them on the leaves of a palmetto scrub. All hooked up together, if you get my drift. Tons of them.
Next thing I knew, I had a horrible taste in my mouth. I'd been breathing hard and my mouth had been open and the stuff went right in! I must have had my face down near them and didn't realize it until too late.
Needless to say, I started spitting as fast as I could and was very careful not to swallow the horrible tasting whatever-it-is. I ran to the kitchen and flushed my mouth out with water for a good 10 minutes; the taste was that awful and took that long to get rid of.
Later... read more
nauticalstar
****Medical Importance***
The first account of its effect on humans that could be located was by Stewart (1937), who wrote about an incident in Texas: "The victim was observing a pair of Anisomorpha buprestoides . . . with his face within two feet of the insects, when he received the discharge in his left eye. . . The pain in his left eye was immediately excruciating; being reported to be as severe as if it had been caused by molten lead. Quick, thorough drenching with cool water allayed the burning agony to a dull aching pain. The pain eased considerably within the course of a few hours... read more