The waikingstick, Diapheromera femorata (Say), the only species of economic 
importance, occurs in southern Canada and throughout most of the Eastern United 
States west to the Great Plains and Texas. Its preferzed hosts appear to be black oak, 
northern red oak, basswood, elm, black locust, and cherry, but it also feeds on 
white oak, quaking aspen, paper birch, ash, dogwood, and hickory. 
Adults average 75 mm long and, while motionless, closely resemble the twigs of 
their hosts (fig. 12). The body color is variable. Some individuals are all brown or 
green; others are mottled or multicolored with dark or light shades of grays, greens, 
reds, or brown. Newly hatched nymphs are pale green, about 8 mm long, and look 
like miniature adults. The egg is very hard, oval, seedlike, shiny black or brown, 
and has a broad white or olive band on one edge. It is about 2 mm long. 
F-504382 
Figure 12.—Adult walkingstick, Diapheromera 
femorata. 
Winter is spent in the egg stage and hatching occurs in May or early June. The 
nymphs feed at first on shrubs such as sweetfern, blueberry, strawberry, and 
serviceberry. Later, they feed on leaves of the same trees as the adults. Adults 
emerge in July or August and feed and lay eggs until the onset of cold weather. In 
heavily infested stands, the sound of falling eggs striking the ground is much like 
that produced by raindrops in a light shower. In the South most of the eggs hatch the 
following year; in the North most hatch the second spring following their deposi- 
tion. 
Severe outbreaks occur occasionally in the Lake States. They also occur less 
frequently south of a line drawn from Nebraska to Delaware. Trees may be 
defoliated twice in the same season during severe outbreaks. Branch mortality 
sometimes occurs in stands heavily defoliated three or four times; continued 
defoliation for several years may lead to considerable tree mortality (493). Impor- 
tant natural control factors include the hymenopterous parasite, Mesitiopterus 
kahlii (Ashmead); various predators such as crows, robins, and other birds; and dry 
weather during the period of egg hatch (/322). 
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