[2] The scholar Antonio Pigafetta was probably the first Western person to document the creature, though it was known to people in the tropics for a long time.

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:[3] In this island are also found certain trees, the leaves of which, when they fall, are animated, and walk.

[11] Cladograms of the Phylliidae species determined on the basis of molecular genetics analysis and morphological investigations according to Cumming and Le Tirant (2022):[11] Rakaphyllium Vaabonbonphyllium Chitoniscus Pulchriphyllium Comptaphyllium Acentetaphyllium Nanophyllium Trolicaphyllium Walaphyllium Cryptophyllium Phyllium Microphyllium Pseudomicrophyllium Rakaphyllium Vaabonbonphyllium Chitoniscus Pulchriphyllium Comptaphyllium Acentetaphyllium Nanophyllium Trolicaphyllium Walaphyllium Cryptophyllium Phyllium Microphyllium Pseudomicrophyllium The Phasmida Species File (V. 5.0) lists the following genera in two tribes:[12] Auth.

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.