Timema poppensis perfectly camouflaged on its host, Redwood Sequoia sempervirens, California.

Description:

Attribution: Moritz Muschick. Timema poppensis perfectly camouflaged on its host, Redwood Sequoia sempervirens, California. This and other, closely related, species are adapted to live on very different host plants and at different elevations. These ecological specialisations have triggered the splitting into distinct species. How this ecological speciation is promoted, for example by divergent camouflage, can be studied by comparing species of Timema stick insects. Analysis of their DNA also reveals which regions in the genome play important roles in ecological speciation. The results of this research will advance our understanding of how biodiversity forms generally.Overall Winner.BMC Ecology 2013, 13:6 doi:10.1186/1472-6785-13-6www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6785/13/6