Kingdom Animalia Class Insecta Order Phasmatodea Rank Subfamily | Phylum Arthropoda Superorder Exopterygota Suborder Verophasmatodea | |
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Similar Bactrododema, Diapheromerinae, Heteropterygini, Necrosciinae, Acanthoxyla prasina | ||
Palophinae is a subfamily of the stick insect family Diapheromeridae. They belong to the superfamily Anareolatae of suborder Verophasmatodea.
Altogether about 20 species of Palophinae are known to date. They have a relictual distribution and are endemic to the southern Africa, with one occurring as far north as the Gulf of Guinea.
Systematics
This is the smallest and least diverse of the Diapheromeridae subfamilies. Sometimes this subfamily is held to contain a single tribe Palophini, but this is redundant as long as no basal members of this lineage are known e.g. as fossils. Of its mere two genera, one is fairly speciose (with new species still being discovered), but the other is monotypic.
The genera are:
References
Palophinae Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA