Some insects run. Some fight. And some simply refuse to be seen. The stick insects of the subfamily Lonchodinae belong to the last camp: elongated, twig-like, and so perfectly still that a forest branch becomes their disguise.
Lonchodinae is a subfamily within the family Lonchodidae (order Phasmida), a group found across Australasia, Asia, Africa, the Pacific and parts of South America. Taxonomically they have had a restless history. For years they sat inside Diapheromeridae, until a 2018 revision re-established Lonchodidae and moved the subfamilies Necrosciinae and Lonchodinae into it.
On Mount Rinjani, one of these masters of camouflage posed for the camera on a leaf. It took a moment to realize the twig was looking back at me.
