A set of seven nuclear and mitochondrial genes were analysed to infer the phylogeny of Heteropterygidae covering the group's overall diversity. The relationships among the three principal subgroups of Heteropterygidae is resolved and revealed the Dataminae as the sister group of Heteropteryginae + Obriminae. Within Heteropteryginae, Haaniella is recovered as paraphyletic in regard to Heteropteryx. Consequently, Heteropteryx must be considered a subordinate taxon deeply embedded within a flightless clade of stick insects. Within Obriminae, the Bornean Hoploclonia is strongly supported as the earliest diverging lineage. Based on this finding, only two tribes of equal rank among Obriminae are recognized, the Hoplocloniini trib. nov. and Obrimini sensu nov. Within the latter, it is demonstrated that previous tribal assignments do not reflect phylogenetic relationships and that a basal splitting event occurred between the wing‐bearing clade Miroceramia + Pterobrimus and the remaining wingless Obrimini. The Philippine genus Tisamenus is paraphyletic with regard to Ilocano hebardi, thus, transfered the latter species to Tisamenus as Tisamenus hebardi comb. nov. and synonymize Ilocano with Tisamenus.
Reference:
Bank et al. (2021): Reconstructing the nonadaptive radiation of an ancient lineage of ground-dwelling stick insects (Phasmatodea: Heteropterygidae). Systematic Entomology, 1