Fossil age data and molecular sequences are increasingly combined to establish a
timescale for the Tree of Life. Arthropods, as the most species-rich and morphologically …

Most species on Earth are insects and thus, understanding their evolutionary relationships is
key to understanding the evolution of life. Insect relationships are increasingly well …

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 …

The insect order Phasmatodea is known for large slender insects masquerading as twigs or
bark. In contrast to these so-called stick insects, the subordinated clade of leaf insects …

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 …

Acoustic and substrate‐borne vibrations are among the most widely used signalling
modalities in animals. Arthropods display a staggering diversity of vibroacoustic organs …

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 …

The Polyneoptera represents one of the earliest insect radiations, comprising the majority of
hemimetabolous orders, in which many species have great economic importance. Here, we …