Amongst the dried ones

ID: Stick insect juv

One of the precious beauties we accidentally stumbled upon, right on the middle of the pathway, this tiny beauty actually resembled the dried end of the plant, can be seen the out of focus bit on the left hand side. It was so well camouflaged or blended in the environment, that my colleague passed through it, almost brushing it off from the plant, without even noticing or realizing the presence of the tiny insect. The way it had extended its front limbs, almost burying its head/frontal portion between the limbs, made it hard to understand the shape of the insect, and even more difficult to spot the eyes and the face. To add to the complexity of this insect and making it even more difficult to spot was the fact that it kept swaying around with the slightest of the breeze, making it feel like and actual twig and not a insect

EXIF:
Canon 80D
Canon 100mm macro
F/10
Shutterspeed 1/125
ISO 400
Handheld, External flash fired

Location: Nagla trail

Amazing. I had to really watch very carefully to understand which was the insect in the photograph. The rear limbs helped to spot it. So the two straight things extended are its front limbs? Nicely observed and photographed. Thanks for sharing.

I am surprised how you managed to spot it. Feels like a twig. This image tells us how one needs to be so careful while in the wild. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi