Phasmaphleps [SEP] parent taxon
Phasmaphleps
Phasmaphleps is a genus of flies in the family Dolichopodidae from the western Pacific. It contains only one species, Phasmaphleps pacifica, which occurs in the Samoan Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Palau.
The generic name is derived from the Greek words "phasma" ("ghost" or "phantom") and "phelps" ("tube" or "vein"), referring to the absence of vein M just beyond the dm-cu crossvein in the fly's wings.
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