An international team of entomologists has described seven new species in the leaf insect genera Phyllium and Pulchriphyllium from Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and India.
Stick and leaf insects (phasmids) are a group that has evolved remarkable morphological adaptations for botanical camouflage and mimicry.
Presently this group includes more than 3,000 known species distributed across most regions of the world, with dozens of species new to science described annually.
While most resemble sticks, bark, and twigs, rarer instances of mimicry such as mosses, lichen, and leaves do exist, allowing phasmids to blend seamlessly into their arboreal habitat.
Additionally helpful for their guise, these insects are typically nocturnal, with little to no movement during the day when visually oriented predators are most active, and even at night phasmid movements are often slow and deliberate, mimicking the swaying of leaves or branches.
One group of phasmids that mimic general leaf morphology of flowering plants particularly well are the Phylliidae, or true leaf insects.
These masters of leaf masquerade are widely distributed across the tropical regions of Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific.
Their flattened body form coupled with leaf-like venation patterns on the fore wings achieves the simulation of plant leaves in female phylliids.
The diversity in coloration and patterns representing different stages of leaf decay lends to the remarkable mimicry of leaf insects.
“Individuals of different leaf insect species are often counted as belonging to the same species based on their appearance,” said University of Göttingen’s Dr. Sarah Bank-Aubin.
“We were only able to identify some of the new species by their genetic characteristics.”
The seven new species of leaf insects are Phyllium iyadaon from Mindoro Island, Philippines; Phyllium samarense from Samar Island, Philippines; Phyllium ortizi from Mindanao Island, Philippines; Pulchriphyllium heracles from…
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