Diapheromeridae [SEP] parent taxon
Diapheromeridae
Diapheromeridae is a family of stick insects (order Phasmatodea). They belong to the superfamily Anareolatae of suborder Verophasmatodea.
The family contains some huge species, e.g. "Paraphanocles keratosqueleton" which can grow to over 30 cm long.
Subfamilies.
Four subfamilies are placed here according to the Phasmid Study Group. The Lonchodinae, sometimes placed in the Diapheromeridae in older treatments, are here assigned to the other lineage of Anareolatae, the family Phasmatidae. The Palophinae are the smallest subfamily by far, and the
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of