Macroevolutionary analyses provide new evidence of phasmid wings evolution as a reversible process

The concept that complex ancestral traits can never be re-acquired after their loss is still widely accepted, despite phylogenetic and molecular approaches suggesting instances where phenotypes may have been lost throughout the evolutionary history of a clade and subsequently reverted back in derived lineages. One of the first and most notable examples of such a process is wing evolution in phasmids; this polyneopteran order of insects, which comprises stick and leaf insects, has played a central role in initiating a long-standing debate on the topic. In this study, a novel and comprehensive time tree including over 300 Phasmatodea species is used as a framework for investigating wing evolutionary patterns in the clade. Despite accounting for several possible biases and sources of uncertainty, macroevolutionary analyses consistently revealed multiple reversals to winged states taking place after their loss, and reversibility is coupled with higher species diversification rates. Our find...