Acanthoxyla Explained

Acanthoxyla is a genus of stick insects in the family Phasmatidae (tribe Acanthoxylini). All the individuals of the genus are female and reproduce asexually by parthenogenesis.^[1] However, a male Acanthoxyla inermis was recently discovered in the UK, probably the result of chromosome loss.^[2] The genus is the result of interspecific hybridisation^{[3] [4]} resulting in some triploid^[5] lineages and some diploid^[6] lineages. The genus is endemic to New Zealand,^[7] but some species have been accidentally introduced elsewhere. The genus name Acanthoxyla translates from Greek as prickly stick (acantho = thorn; xyla = wood).

Species

The Catalogue of Life lists:

• Acanthoxyla fasciata (Hutton, 1899)
• Acanthoxyla geisovii (Kaup, 1866)
• Acanthoxyla huttoni Salmon, 1955
• Acanthoxyla inermis Salmon, 1955
• Acanthoxyla intermedia Salmon, 1955
• Acanthoxyla prasina (Westwood, 1859)
• Acanthoxyla speciosa Salmon, 1955
• Acanthoxyla suteri (Hutton, 1899)

See also

• List of stick insects of New Zealand

References

1. Web site: Acanthoxyla Uvarov . Landcare Research . 29 January 2018.
2. Brock . Paul . Missing stickman found: the first male of the parthenogenetic New Zealand Phasmid genus Acanthoxyla Uvarov, 1944 discovered in the United Kingdom . Atropos . 2018 . 60 . 16–23 .
3. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Trewick. Steven A.. 2005. Hybrid origin of a parthenogenetic genus?. Molecular Ecology. en. 14. 7. 2133–2142. 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02575.x. 15910332. 29709325.
4. Morgan-Richards. Mary. Hills. Simon F. K.. Biggs. Patrick J.. Trewick. Steven A.. 2016. Budak. Hikmet. Sticky Genomes: Using NGS Evidence to Test Hybrid Speciation Hypotheses. PLOS ONE. en. 11. 5. e0154911. 10.1371/journal.pone.0154911. 1932-6203. 4871368. 27187689. free.
5. Buckley. Thomas R.. Attanayake. Dilini. Park. Duckchul. Ravindran. Shanthinie. Jewell. Tony R.. Normark. Benjamin B.. 2008. Investigating hybridization in the parthenogenetic New Zealand stick insect Acanthoxyla (Phasmatodea) using single-copy nuclear loci. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. en. 48. 1. 335–349. 10.1016/j.ympev.2008.02.016. 18367411. 1055-7903.
6. Myers. Shelley S.. Trewick. Steven A.. Morgan-Richards. Mary. 2013. Boomsma. Jacobus. Brad. Sean. Multiple lines of evidence suggest mosaic polyploidy in the hybrid parthenogenetic stick insect lineage Acanthoxyla. Insect Conservation and Diversity. en. 6. 4. 537–548. 10.1111/icad.12008. 59932320.
7. Book: Salmon, John. The Stick Insects of New Zealand. Reed. 1991. 0790002116. Singapore.

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