Phylliidae


The family Phylliidae contains the extant true leaf insects or walking leaves, which include some of the most remarkably camouflaged leaf mimics in the entire animal kingdom. They occur from South Asia through Southeast Asia to Australia. Earlier sources treat Phylliidae as a much larger taxon, containing genera in what are presently considered to be several different families.

Characteristics

Leaf insects are camouflaged taking on the appearance of leaves. They do this so accurately that predators often are not able to distinguish them from real leaves. In some species the edge of the leaf insect's body even has the appearance of bite marks. To further confuse predators, when the leaf insect walks, it rocks back and forth, to mimic a real leaf being blown by the wind.
The scholar Antonio Pigafetta probably was the first to document the creature. Sailing with Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigational expedition, he studied and chronicled the fauna on the island of Cimbonbon as the fleet hauled ashore for repairs. During this time he documented the Phyllium species with the following passage:

Tribes, Genera and Species

The Phasmida Species File lists the following:

Tribe Nanophylliini

Distribution: Australasia, New Guinea; auth. Zompro & Grösser, 2003
Distribution: Australasia, Asia, Pacific; auth. Brunner, 1893
female
 in the permanent collection of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Selected species:
A 47-million-year-old fossil of Eophyllium messelensis, a prehistoric ancestor of Phylliidae, displays many of the same characteristics of modern leaf insects, indicating that this family has changed little over time.