| 英文摘要: | Parasitoid wasps are found worldwide and in order to complete their life cycle they first parasitize another insect and eventually kill it. Some wasps are potential biocontrol agents because they parasitize major pest insects such as the Coffee Berry Borer and Navel Orange Worm, and even the Emerald Ash Borer, which currently decimates North American hardwood forests. The agricultural and economic importance of parasitoid wasps in controlling destructive insects is clear, but choosing the correct wasp is difficult. Parasitoid wasps are extremely diverse and choosing the wrong wasp can have dire consequences - they may oust native wasps from similar niches and become pests themselves. Studying the evolutionary history and producing phylogenetic trees explaining the relationships amongst different groups of wasps helps applied entomologists by providing a necessary comparative framework upon which biological criteria can be assessed. With a phylogeny, entomologists can track the evolution of host choice, biogeographical changes, and test predictions of introduced parasitoid success. As a broader impact initiative, the researchers will build off of a previously successful series of science comics, using parasitoid wasps as an engaging topic to introduce high school students to topics of parasitoidism, evolution, and systematics.
In this project, the research focus is on the Epyris wasps, one of the largest genera in Bethylidae, which has been shown to be non-monophyletic, meaning that it is likely composed of several distinct genera. In prior research, a phylogeny of 150 Epyrinae taxa from 26 countries based upon DNA sequences from five genes (16S, CytB, COI, 18S and 28S) resulted in an evolutionary tree with a non-monophyletic Epyris. While the genus is polyphyletic as currently circumscribed, there were monophyletic groups of named Epyris species spread throughout Epyrinae phylogeny that likely represent new genera in need of description. To better resolve relationships among Epyrinae, fifty more species of Epyris representing potentially new genera will be included within this new research and three nuclear protein-coding gene data sets -- Elongation factor-1 alpha, long-wavelength Opsin, and Wingless -- will be added, resulting in a final matrix comprising eight genes and 200 taxa. These data will be analyzed using parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian phylogenetic methods. The three protein-coding genes are expected to resolve ambiguities present in prior phylogenies and provide greater support for new genera. With this new phylogeny, and subsequent morphological analysis, the researchers will revise the taxonomy of the old Epyris, describe new genera, and produce a new identification key for the Epyrinae for broad dissemination. |