Adhesive pads are functional systems with specific micro-and nanostructures which evolved
as a response to specific environmental conditions and therefore exhibit convergent traits …

Twenty‐five years ago, it was suggested that current‐day New Zealand, part of the largely
sunken continent of Zealandia, could have been completely inundated during the Oligocene …

Phasmatodea comprises over 3,000 extant species and stands out as one of the last
remaining insect orders for which a robust, higher-level phylogenetic hypothesis is lacking …

Background The re-evolution of complex characters is generally considered impossible, yet,
studies of recent years have provided several examples of phenotypic reversals shown to …

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are large, tropical, predominantly nocturnal
herbivores, which exhibit extreme masquerade crypsis, whereby they morphologically and …

(Leprocaulinus, Macrophasma, and Phobaeticus) and conspecific males being winged.
Ocelli are present only in individuals capable of flight, but are also absent in many winged …

We used a multi-gene approach to assess the phylogenetic relationships of New Zealand
diplodactylid geckos to their Australian and New Caledonian relatives and to one another …

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are large terrestrial herbivorous arthropods known for
masquerading as plant parts such as bark, twigs and leaves. Their evolutionary history is …

Background The study of islands as model systems plays a key role in understanding many
evolutionary processes. Knowledge of the historical events leading to present-day island …

Insects have developed specialized structures on their feet for adhering to surfaces, with
stick and leaf insects or Phasmatodea exhibiting an unexpectedly high diversity of these …