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Image: Doug Aghassi

We’ve portrayed insects before whose survival strategy is to scare predators by making scary eyes at them (moths and butterflies) or by warning their enemies of their poisonous qualities (beetles and bugs). Today, we’re focusing on insects that stay still and blend in so perfectly with their environment that predators simply overlook them.

In nature, sticking out is only good if one is a) poisonous or b) a predator. Even for the latter, blending in helps when hunting prey – just think of a lion being hidden in the tall grass of the savannah. So most animals use camouflage to their advantage and the ultimate goal: survival and reproduction.

Some animals are more sophisticated than others when it comes to hiding and insects, given their relative size and sheer numbers, don’t disappoint in this department either. As colouration is genetic, only what works will be passed on from generation to generation. The fact that insects can also “play dead” very convincingly or be as still as a rock or leaf further increases their chances of survival. The following examples show that insects never cease to amaze.

The Dead Leave mantis is not one species of praying mantis but various ones that rely on mimicking dead leaves for survival.

Can you spot the insect here?

Image: Adrian Pingstone

A cicada, perfectly camouflaged on a pine tree:

Image: Barbarossa

Notice how the leaf’s lichen patches are matched by this grasshopper nymph in Wayanad, Kerala:

Image: L. Shyamal

Phasmatodea is the order of insects generally known as stick insects. Some have stick like bodies; others look more like leaves. Common to all is that they are masters of camouflage and therefore very difficult to spot. The only giveaway is when they move, finally. No wonder then that their name is derived from the Greek phasma, meaning phantom or apparition. Found in Canberra mimicking the eucalyptus leaves it feeds on, the specimen below is called a children’s stick insect (Tropidoderus childrenii).

Even the leaf’s shape is mimicked – the children’s stick insect:

Image: Flagstaffotos

A Phyllium celebicum or walking leaf:

Image: Wilfried Berns

The Malayan jungle nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata) is green in colour and though it blends in well with its surroundings, the females especially are very aggressive and should be approached with caution.

Can you spot the Walking Stick insect?

Image: Ryan Somma

Only green as far as the eye can see – did you notice the grasshopper?

Image: Doug Aghassi

Or how about beige and brown? Sand grasshopper, captured in Point Reyes, CA:

Image: Don DeBold

Like a bee to the pod:

Image: davida3

The Spiny Rainforest Katydid (Phricta aberrans) is one of the world’s most unusual looking insects with its thorny body and almost reptilian look. It is a native of northern New South Wales and southeast Queensland in Australia and was already classified in 1895.

A well-disguised Spiny Rainforest Katydid:

Image: John Moss

Sources: 1, 2, 3

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