section_path: Locomotion/Walking
section_name: Walking
paragraph_text: Walking
  
  Many adult insects use six legs for walking, with an alternating tripod gait. This allows for rapid walking with a stable stance; it has been studied extensively in cockroaches and ants. For the first step, the middle right leg and the front and rear left legs are in contact with the ground and move the insect forward, while the front and rear right leg and the middle left leg are lifted and moved forward to a new position. When they touch the ground to form a new stable triangle, the other legs can be lifted and brought forward in turn. The purest form of the tripedal gait is seen in insects moving at high speeds. However, this type of locomotion is not rigid and insects can adapt a variety of gaits. For example, when moving slowly, turning, avoiding obstacles, climbing or slippery surfaces, four (tetrapodal) or more feet (wave-gait) may be touching the ground. Cockroaches are among the fastest insect runners and, at full speed, adopt a bipedal run. More sedate locomotion is seen in the well- camouflaged stick insects (Phasmatodea). A small number of species such as Water striders can move on the surface of water; their claws are recessed in a special groove, preventing the claws from piercing the water's surface film. The ocean-skaters in the genus Halobates even live on the surface of open oceans, a habitat that has few insect species.