heelwalker

English

Etymology

Compound of heel +‎ walker, from the fact that these insects have a habit of walking with the tips of their feet held up in the air.[1]

Noun

heelwalker (plural heelwalkers)

  1. Any of the order Mantophasmatodea of carnivorous, wingless insects that superficially resemble a cross between praying mantises and phasmids.
    Synonyms: gladiator, rock crawler
    • 2007, Naskrecki, Piotr, The smaller majority : the hidden world of the animals that dominate the tropics‎[2], page 247:
      The gladiator heelwalker (Tyrannophasma gladiator) is a ferocious nocturnal predator. It uses both front and middle legs to grab and crush its spider and insect prey.
    • 2024 October 25, “Diversity of attachment systems in heelwalkers (Mantophasmatodea) – highly specialized, but uniform”, in bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com‎[3]:
      Heelwalkers possess a highly modified tarsal attachment system. All extant species lift the distalmost tarsomere permanently off the substrate and primarily use their euplantulae for locomotion.

References

  1. ^ Piotr Naskrecki (26 February 2013) “African Tuesday: Heelwalkers”, in thesmallermajority.com‎[1]
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