Stick insect Temporal range: Cretaceous – Recent
Leptynia hispanica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Superorder:	Exopterygota
Order:	Phasmatodea
Suborders
Agathemerodea: only the genus Agathemera Timematodea: only the primitive genus Timema Verophasmatodea: all the other stick and leaf insects

Stick insect Ctenomorphodes chronus

Acanthoxyla prasina or the prickly stick insect, native to New Zealand. It may reproduce by parthenogenesis; no males were recorded until 2016 when a single male was discovered in the UK where this phasmid was introduced.

Mating pair of Anisomorpha buprestoides

Good example of a hindwing startle display from a male Peruphasma schultei

Stick insects (also called phasmids, walking sticks, stick-bugs, or ghost insects) are insects in the order Phasmatodea (or Phasmida).

The whole order is camouflaged as either sticks or leaves. Leaf insects are generally the family Phylliidae. They are found in south and southeast Asia to New Zealand.

Over 3,000 species have been described.

The name Phasmatodea comes from the Ancient Greek phasma, meaning an apparition or phantom.