Phylliidae
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 Phyllium from the Western Ghats
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Chitoniscus |
The family Phylliidae (often misspelled Phyllidae) contains the extant true leaf insects or walkingleaves, which include some of the most remarkable leaf mimics in the entire animal kingdom. They occur from South Asia through Southeast Asia to Australia. At present, there seems to be no consensus as to the preferred classification of this group; some sources treat Phylliidae as a much larger taxon, containing the members of what are presently considered to be several different families. It is used here in its most restricted sense.
A 47 million year old fossil of Eophyllium messelensis, a prehistoric ancestor of Phylliidae, displays many of the same characteristics of modern leaf insects, indicating that this family has changed little over the millenia.[1]
[edit] References
- Bradley, J.C., and Galil, B.S. (1977). The taxonomic arrangement of the Phasmatodea with keys to the subfamilies and tribes. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 79(2): 176-208.
- ^ Wedmann, Sonja; Bradler, Sven; Rust, Jes (9 January 2007). "The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (2): 565-9. DOI:10.1073/pnas.0606937104. Retrieved on 2007-01-15.
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