Papua New Guinean Exstatsoma P. Horridus

Long-limbed insect hangs in its case, looking like a twig with opinions.

This exstatsoma P. horridus is from Papua New Guinea, and is contemporary. It is wood & glass. Specimens are generally preserved with care and arranged in a natural, pleasing way, then framed and floated behind glass so details such as delicate antennae can be appreciated as natural art. Brownish insect, thin as a twig, with spiny, leaf-like flanges along its legs and a segmented, curved abdomen that ends in a hook. Its limbs spread wide, pinned in the middle of a glass-fronted black frame. It is 7 inches wide, 2 deep and 9 high.

The finest disguise, and somehow it still posed for a portrait.