In Venezuela known as a stick insect

Due to their shapes, they present three main morphological types:

• Stick insects: elongated, with or without wings (if present, they may or may not be functional for flight); roughly cylindrical body cross section; similar to small twigs, both in color and shape.

• Leaf insects: broad-bodied, winged forms, flattened dorsoventrally, with laminar expansions on the legs and similar to leaves.

• Bark insects: they tend to have a more robust body and in many cases with protrusions in the form of small spines on all or part of the body.

In general, stick insects, as their name suggests, are twig-shaped, which makes them go unnoticed by many predators. However, it is not the only system that these insects have to defend themselves against enemies.

Both the so-called stick insects and the leaf insects belong to the order Phasmida (= Phasmatodea), but they belong to different superfamilies. The leaf shape of these animals is reinforced because their wings are adorned with drawings that are highly reminiscent of the innervations found in plant leaves and because their legs are equipped with laminar expansions that blend in with those of the leaves themselves.

They generally live on shrubs and trees on which they feed, presenting both homotype and homochromia. Whether they are nymphs or adults, stick insects generally take refuge from predators by hiding in vegetation during the day; at night is when they are active and feed or copulate. Sometimes they take advantage of air breezes to move or eat, taking advantage of the fact that some leaves and stems of the plant they are on move at the same time and thus do not attract too much attention.

The immature stages or nymphs generally have a morphology similar to that of the adult but in miniature. To grow, they generally make 5 to 7 molts (females tend to molt more than males). In some species the coloration varies during the different stages of growth depending on various factors (genetic, environmental, etc.). The life cycle varies according to the species but can be from several months to three years.