Abstract:
Although the Phasmidae are a fairly large family of the Orthoptera and are well known for their expert mimicry of plant forms, and colour change in response to their surroundings, comparitively little is known of their reproductive biology.
Some species are known to be exclusively parthenogenic (for example BacillusjCarauaiua) and 'males' when they occur, are intersexes. Other normally bisexual members of this family that have been investigated are facultative parthenogens; this is probably the usual condition.
A massive literature that is mainly taxonomic exists on the external
genitalia, and the gross morphology of a number of species is known from
scattered systematic and miscellaneous papers. Detailed structure and cytology of the reproductive organs are, however, few.
