The systematics of three genera of New Zealand stick insect in the subfamily Phasmatinae were investigated in light of inconsistencies in morphological variability within and among species. We sequenced a region of the mitochondrial genome, cytochrome oxidase (COI & COII; 1448 bp), and a nuclear marker, the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 & ITS2; 1804 bp) from 49 stick insects. Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergences among t...

The origin of the obligate‐parthenogenetic New Zealand stick insect genus Acanthoxyla was investigated using cytogenetics and sequencing of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Little mitochondrial DNA sequence variation (COI‐II) was found among seven species of the genus Acanthoxyla and we found no evidence for monophyly of the morphologically distinguished lineages. In contrast, two distinct clades of nuclear sequence (ITS) were o...

Aim New Zealand broke away from the margins of Gondwana c . 75 Ma. Since then, New Zealand taxa derived from the Gondwanan biota are thought to have been exposed first to a subtropical climate on a low lying terrain, then severe land reduction during the Oligocene marine transgression, followed by much cooler climates of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, at which time mountain ranges emerged. The biological consequence of New Zeal...