Phasmatodea

Bacillus rossius, photographed by Lucarelli.

Belongs within: Holophasmatodea.
Contains: Platycraninae, Lonchodinae, Diapheromerinae, Cladomorphinae, Pachymorphinae, Eurycanthinae, Phylliinae, Necrosciinae, Tropidoderinae, Phasmatinae, Pseudophasmatidae.

The Phasmatodea, phasmids, include the stick insects and leaf insects. The bodies of these slow-moving plant-eating insects are modified to resemble the surrounding vegetation, providing them with excellent camouflage. The relatively short-bodied genus Timema, found in the western United States, is identified as the sister taxon to the remaining living Phasmatodea by its retention of several plesiomorphic features, including separate prothoracic ana- and coxopleurites, and prothoracic sternal apophyses (Grimaldi & Engel 2005).

Synapomorphies (from Grimaldi & Engel 2005): Prothorax bearing anterior dorsolateral defensive glands; males with vomer (modified sclerite on tenth sternite allowing male to clasp female during copulation); eggs with operculum (lid-like section of oocyte).

<==Phasmatodea [Areolatae, Phasmatoidea, Phasmida]
    |--Timema [Timematidae, Timematinae, Timematodea] WBR07
    |    |--T. californica R00
    |    `--T. knulii WBM03
    `--Euphasmatodea [Anareolatae, Bacillidae, Diapheromeridae, Phasmatidae, Verophasmatodea] WBR07
         |  i. s.: Korinninae WBM03
         |         Aschiphasmatoidea Z04
         |           |  i. s.: Aschiphasmatinae WBM03
         |           `--Prisopodidae Z04
         |         Pygirhynchinae WBM03
         |         Platycraninae BH07
         |         Palophus R96 [Palophinae WBM03]
         |         Archipseudophasmatidae WBR07
         |         Clarias brachysoma (Sharp 1898) WBR07
         |         Lonchodinae BH07
         |--Diapheromerinae WBM03
         `--+--+--Cladomorphinae WBM03
            |  `--+--Pachymorphinae WBM03
            |     `--+--Medauroidea extradentatum WBM03
            |        `--Medaura WBM03
            `--+--Bacillus [Bacillinae] WBM03
               |    |--B. geisovii Kaup 1866 K66
               |    |--B. gerhardii Kaup 1866 K66
               |    |--B. hookeri K66
               |    |--B. lobipes Lucas 1847 E12
               |    `--B. rossius WBM03
               `--+--+--Carausius WBM03
                  |  |    |--C. excelsus Brunner 1907 BH07
                  |  |    |--C. immundus Brunner 1907 BH07
                  |  |    `--C. morosus WBM03
                  |  `--Eurycanthinae WBM03
                  `--+--Phylliidae R96
                     |    |--Phylliinae WBM03
                     |    `--+--Neohirasea maerens WBM03
                     |       `--Necrosciinae WBM03
                     `--+--+--Phobaeticus heusii WBM03
                        |  `--+--+--Tropidoderinae WBM03
                        |     |  `--Phasmatinae WBM03
                        |     `--Xeroderinae WBM03
                        |          |--Dimorphodes prostasis WBM03
                        |          |--Xeroderus Gray 1835 [incl. Cooktownia Sjöstedt 1918] BH07
                        |          |    `--X. kirbii Gray 1835 [incl. Cooktownia plana Sjöstedt 1918] BH07
                        |          `--Cnipsus Redtenbacher 1908 Z01
                        |               `--*C. rachis (Saussure 1868) [=Acanthoderus rachis] Z01
                        `--+--Pseudophasmatoidea Z04
                           |    |--Pseudophasmatidae WBM03
                           |    `--Heteronemiidae [Heteronemiinae] Z04
                           |         |--Paraleptyniini Z04
                           |         |    |--Paraleptynia Caudell 1904 [incl. Steleoxiphus Rehn 1907] Z04
                           |         |    |    |--*P. forsteri Caudell 1904 Z04
                           |         |    |    `--‘*Steleoxiphus’ catastates Rehn 1907 Z04
                           |         |    |--Xiphophasma Rehn 1913 Z04
                           |         |    `--Parabacillus Caudell 1903 Z04
                           |         |--Heteronemia [Heteronemiini] Z04
                           |         `--Canuleius [Canuleiini] Z04
                           `--Heteropteryginae WBM03
                                |--+--Aretaon asperrimus WBM03
                                |  `--Sungaya inexpectata WBM03
                                `--+--Agathemera [Agathemeridae, Agathemerodea] WBM03
                                   |    `--A. crassa WBM03
                                   `--+--Heteropteryx dilatata WBM03
                                      `--Haaniella WBM03
                                           |--H. dehaanii WBM03
                                           `--H. grayii Westwood 1859 [incl. Heteropteryx australis Kirby 1896] BH07

Phasmatodea incertae sedis:
  Pharnacia kirbyi GE05
  Pseudoperla GE05
  Clitarchus hookeri WFS04
  Argosarchus horridus DGH93
  Anasceles Redtenbacher 1908 BH07
  Diardia BH07
    |--D. brevitarsis Redtenbacher 1908 BH07
    `--D. vicinissima Redtenbacher 1908 BH07
  Bactrododema hecticum (Lichtenstein 1796) [incl. Ctenomorpha haworthii Gray 1835] BH07
  Ophicrania striaticollis Kaup 1871 BH07
  Entoria Stål 1875 Z04
  Cuniculina impigra (Brunner 1907) P11

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BH07] Brock, P. D. & J. W. Hasenpusch. 2007. Studies on the Australian stick insects (Phasmida), including a checklist of species and bibliography. Zootaxa 1570: 1-81.

[DGH93] Daugherty, C. H., G. W. Gibbs & R. A. Hitchmough. 1993. Mega-island or micro-continent? New Zealand and its fauna. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 8 (12): 437-442.

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l'Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[K66] Kaup, J. 1866. Description of two new species of the genus Bacillus, Latr. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 577-578.

[P11] Pollard, S. D. 2011. A twitch in time: tibial spiracles have a role in an autonomous defence mechanism in harvestmen. Records of the Canterbury Museum 25: 59-65.

[R96] Rentz, D. 1996. Grasshopper Country: The abundant orthopteroid insects of Australia. University of New South Wales Press: Sydney.

[R00] Ross, E. S. 2000. Embia: Contributions to the biosystematics of the insect order Embiidina. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 149: 1-53, 1-36.

[WBR07] Wedmann, S., S. Bradler & J. Rust. 2007. The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 104 (2): 565-569.

[WBM03] Whiting, M. F., S. Bradler & T. Maxwell. 2003. Loss and recovery of wings in stick insects. Nature 421: 264-267.

[WFS04] Winks, C. J., S. V. Fowler & L. A. Smith. 2004. Invertebrate fauna of boneseed, Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. monilifera (L.) T. Norl. (Asteraceae: Calenduleae), an invasive weed in New Zealand. New Zealand Entomologist 27: 61-72.

[Z01] Zompro, O. 2001. A review of Eurycanthinae: Eurycanthini, with a key to genera, notes on the subfamily and designation of type species. Phasmid Studies 10 (1): 19-23.

[Z04] Zompro, O. 2004. A key to the stick-insect genera of the ‘Anareolatae’ of the New World, with descriptions of several new taxa (Insecta: Phasmatodea). Studies on Neotropical Fauna and Environment 39 (2): 133-144.