Timema

Timema
Timema genevievae on the leaves of chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum).
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Phasmatodea
Family: Timematidae
Genus: Timema
Scudder, 1895
Species

21, and see text

Geographical distribution of Timema species in North America (Law & Crespi, 2002). T. morongense is found west of T. chumash but the extent of its full range is unknown.[1]

Timema is a genus of relatively short-bodied, stout and wingless stick insects native to the far western United States, and the sole extant member of the family Timematidae. The genus was first described in 1895 by Samuel Hubbard Scudder, based on observations of the species Timema californicum.[2][3][4]

Compared to other stick insects (order Phasmatodea), the genus Timema is considered basal; that is, the earliest "branch" to diverge from the phylogenetic tree that includes all Phasmatodea. To emphasize this outgroup status, all stick insects not included in Timema are sometimes described as "Euphasmatodea."

Five of the twenty-one species of Timema are parthenogenetic, including two species that have not engaged in sexual reproduction for one million years, the longest known asexual period for any insect.[5]

  1. ^ Jennifer H. Law & Bernard J. Crespi (2002). "The evolution of geographic parthenogenesis in Timema walking-sticks" (PDF). Molecular Ecology. 11 (8). Blackwell Science Ltd.: 1471–1489. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.2002.01547.x. PMID 12144667. S2CID 45314005.
  2. ^ Brock, P.D. "Species Timema californicum Scudder, 1895". Phasmida Species File Online. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  3. ^ Hebard, M. (1920). "The genus Timema Scudder, with the description of a new species, (Orthoptera, Phasmidae, Timeminae)" (PDF). Entomological News. 31: 126–132. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  4. ^ About Timemas | Timema Discovery Project
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference bbc0719 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).