Articles
The ‘Impossible’ Insects
by Joachim Scheven
Better known
as stick (or leaf) insects, the phasmids are the undisputed masters
of camouflage in the living world. They come in a bewildering
array of forms, which virtually all mimic some part or another of
various plants. Can that really be an insect? It looks just like
a dry stem of grass (photos 1-3), or a partially gnawed or dead leaf
(4-7) [photo 5 and 7 are available in Creation magazine], or a thorny
twig (8), or … But there—it starts to move—and
sure enough, suddenly we see six long legs as it ambles off. Or two
previously unnoticed wings unfold, and it flies away as we watch
in fascination.
Could such wonders
have just evolved? Look at the different types here, all camouflaged
to perfection. Sipyloidea sipylus (1-3) climbs
onto a dry grass stem, stretches one pair of legs out straight in
front, between which its long feelers suddenly disappear. The two
other pairs of legs go to the rear, pressed tightly against its body.
There is now virtually nothing to see of its wings, either. All that
is left to see has the yellow-grey colour of dead grass—even
down to copying the dark little flecks of fungus on the grass!
According to
evolutionary belief, phasmids are the result of millions of chance
mutations, filtered by selection. It is taught that all
of them descended from a common ‘phasmid ancestor.’ But
if they came about by such a continual, gradual process of ‘development’ and ‘adaptation,’ how
is it that we only ever see the end products in all their exquisite
perfection? How is it then that they are so different, one mimicking
exactly the common crooked twigs lying on forest floors (9,10), the
other a diseased, damaged leaf, another a rotting stem (11), yet
all with the same habit of camouflage, to the same degree of perfection?
What is the probability, even given all the selection in the world,
of all the right ‘genetic accidents’ occurring at the
right time and in the right sequence, in all of these separate lines?
Along with so
much else in the living world, the phasmids indicate providential,
intelligent design. To create something as complex
as one of these brilliantly programmed mimics at the beginning of
time involves a Creator capable of working miracles. Which is exactly
what Genesis—and all of the rest of the Bible—teaches,
consistent with the evidence before our eyes.
Joachim Scheven, Ph.D., has studied biology, paleontology, geology,
tropical medicine, and parasitology. He has done extensive post-doctoral
paleontological research, and is curator of the German creation museum
Lebendige Vorwelt (Living Prehistory).
See photos at:
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/314
Used by permission of Creation Ministries International: wwwcreationontheweb.com
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