2. Behavioral Biology TALKS - Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft

only form a natural group with the inclusion of Wurthiinae, confirming the results of
Mitter et al. (in press). None of the investigated genus groups with exception of the
Samea group appear monophyletic. The Udea s.l. group (Mally & Nuss 2011) appears
to be a key group at the base of the Spilomelinae-Pyraustinae clade. However,
several enigmatic taxa (e.g. Euclasta) and genus group representatives are still
missing from the sampling and may provide further insights, once they are included.
Apart from enhancing the taxon sampling, the next major undertaking is the
generation of a morphological data matrix based on anatomical characters of the
adults. By this, we intend to get insights into character evolution within Spilomelinae
and Pyraustinae, to constitute a phylogenetically well-founded circumscription of
Spilomelinae, and to establish the groundwork for the further investigation of its 318
genera.
�134 Sven Bradler A 703 / 16:45
The stick insects of Madagascar: Ancient lineages or recent adaptive radiation?
Authors: Sven Bradler 1 , Kim Stey 1 , Julia Goldberg 1
Affiliation: 1 Johann-Friedrich-Blumenbach-Institut für Zoologie und Anthropologie,
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Madagascar is one of our planet’s leading biodiversity hotspots exhibiting an
extraordinarily distinct and diverse biota. Many elements of its fauna are still poorly
documented and remain largely unexplored. One example is the Malagasy stick
insects (Phasmatodea) whose evolutionary history is entirely obscure. Stick insects
are large terrestrial arthropods with limited direct-dispersal abilities, forming at least
four distinct taxonomic groups on Madagascar, i.e., endemic families and subfamilies.
Their phylogenetic affinities to continental lineages are completely unresolved. We
present informative sets of molecular and morphometric data to investigate the
origin and evolution of Malagasy stick insect lineages. Analysing a representative
taxon sampling we demonstrate that the stick insects of Madagascar are more closely
related to each other and much younger than previously suggested in traditional
classifications, representing a classical example of adaptive radiation in geographic
isolation. The application of a comparative morphospace analysis to the obtained
phylogeny additionally provides an opportunity to compare unrelated and
geographically distant radiations among phasmatodeans, for instance those of
Madagascar compared to a diverse lineage of Australasian stick insects
(Lanceocercata). Thereby, we detect an impressive degree of convergence between
these otherwise distinct communities.
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