Heelwalker is the common name for a group of wingless insects from southern Africa. Heelwalkers somewhat resemble immature forms of mantids or walkingsticks. They have long antennae and a head that points downward. The insects can use their strong, spiked front legs to hold prey while they eat the prey with their powerful jaws. Heelwalkers always hold the last segment of each leg in the air, even when walking. This trait makes them appear to walk on heels.
Adult heelwalkers grow from 1/2 to 11/2 inches (1 to 3 centimeters) in length. Their coloring ranges from gray to green, white, or brown. These colors make them blend into their environment, enabling them to capture prey and to avoid such enemies as birds and lizards. Heelwalkers hide in rock crevices and in clumps of grass during the day. They prey at night, mostly on flies and other insects. The female heelwalker lays eggs that can survive for several months in the dry season. During the wet season, the eggs hatch and the nymphs grow and transform into adults. Adults can live for several weeks.
Heelwalkers make up a scientific order of insects called Mantophasmatodea << `man` toh faz muh TOH dee uh >> . Biologists officially established this order in 2002, the first new insect order identified since 1914. Examples of insects from the order had long existed in museum collections. But scientists had incorrectly identfied them for many years.
