Stick situation
Walkingstick, home
I just about missed this marvelous creature, which we call a Walkingstick—one word, for the insect; two, for the hiking aid—in honor of its amazing resemblance to a mobile twig. It was watching the world from the top of a Goldenrod, and it so matched its surroundings, it was just about invisible. That, of course, was evolution's point, and it's why this non-flying invertebrate has prospered in a land of predators. To would-be enemies, Walkingsticks are simply invisible, and from this characteristic, they get their new group name, Phasmatodea, the "ghost insects." When I learned about them six or so decades ago, they were considered an aberrant kind of grasshopper. Now, they're lumped into their own insect order: a congregation of phantoms!