A second view on the evolution of flight in stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea).

ABSTRACT:

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 violate Dollo's law. Along these lines, the regain of wings in stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) was hypothesised to have occurred several times independently after an ancestral loss, a scenario controversially discussed among evolutionary biologists due to overestimation of the potential for trait reacquisition as well as to the lack of taxonomic data.

Results

We revisited the recovery of wings by reconstructing a phylogeny based on a comprehensive taxon sample of over 500 representative phasmatodean species to infer the evolutionary history of wings. We additionally explored the presence of oce

SUBMITTER: Bank S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9097326 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature