| 项目编号: | 1655769
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| 项目名称: | Assassin bugs: evolutionary history of the Reduvioidea, a diverse clade of predatory and hematophagous insects |
| 作者: | Christiane Weirauch
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| 承担单位: | University of California-Riverside
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| 批准年: | 2017
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| 开始日期: | 2017-05-01
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| 结束日期: | 2020-04-30
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| 资助金额: | 666677
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| 资助来源: | US-NSF
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| 项目类别: | Standard Grant
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| 国家: | US
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| 语种: | 英语
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| 特色学科分类: | Biological Sciences - Environmental Biology
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| 英文关键词: | assassin bug
; reduvioidea
; natural history datum
; species hunt other insect
; true bug biodiversity
; evolutionary history
; bug gut contents
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| 英文摘要: | Evolutionary research explores processes that have shaped biodiversity. With close to 7,000 species known to science, assassin bugs are one of the largest evolutionary lineages of animals where the majority of species hunt other insects. The factors that have allowed assassin bugs to speciate at this scale are unknown, but specializations on certain prey organisms and transitions into a variety of terrestrial habitats are assumed to have contributed to this phenomenon. These hypotheses have largely remained untested, because comprehensive evolutionary trees are unavailable. Assassin bugs include beneficial species used to control plant pests, pollinator predators, and powerful human disease vectors that transmit the causative agent of Chagas disease. An international team led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside will investigate the evolutionary history of assassin bugs, tying together extensive genetic and morphological data with innovative approaches to gather natural history data. One postdoctoral researcher and one PhD student will be trained, several undergraduate researchers will engage in research and outreach, and two short courses on true bug biodiversity will train students, researchers, and others involved in agricultural and public health related research and monitoring.
Existing phylogenies of the assassin bugs or Reduvioidea are inadequate to address many evolutionary questions, the paucity of well-described fossils has made it difficult to establish timelines for events including the transition from predatory to blood-feeding life styles, and the classification of Reduvioidea is in disarray. This project will: 1) test phylogenetic hypotheses with emphasis on the poorly resolved Higher Reduviidae and contentious relationships of the hematophagous Chagas disease vectors Triatominae, while maximizing taxonomic coverage and integrating transcriptomic, anchored hybrid enrichment, traditional molecular, and morphological datasets; 2) describe and redescribe fossil reduvioids to bridge taxonomic and geological gaps in the fossil record and test hypotheses on the timing of key biological events; 3) apply metabarcoding approaches to assassin bug gut contents to complement available prey data; 4) study diversification across Reduvioidea, focusing on hypotheses of diversification rate shifts and correlated key innovations, and morphological, physiological, and ecological traits involved in the transition between predation and blood-feeding; 5) use the phylogenetic information generated during this project to propose a new classification of Reduvioidea. |
| 资源类型: | 项目
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| 标识符: | http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/90230
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| Appears in Collections: | 全球变化的国际研究计划
科学计划与规划
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| Recommended Citation: | |
Christiane Weirauch. Assassin bugs: evolutionary history of the Reduvioidea, a diverse clade of predatory and hematophagous insects. 2017-01-01.
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