These fabulous looking stick insects originate from Vietnam and are members of a species which does not have a common name, but whose scientific (Latin) name is Pharnacia jianfenglingensis,  which I'm sure you'll agree is a bit of a mouthful! 

The animals in the pictures directly above and below are not yet adult and have plenty of growing left to do, but as I'm sure you can see they are already quite large!  They are fantastically well camouflaged in the trees in which they live, usually sitting motionless amongst the branches and blending in effortlessly!

When I first received these stick insects in July 2008 they were a LOT smaller as you can see below!  They were also green, and I have always found it fascinating that so many stick insect species go through one or more significant colour changes during their life cycle!