Morphology and Cladistic Relationships of North American Gracillariid Genera (Lepidoptera)

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Gracillariids are a family of minute colorful moths comprising more than 1500 species world.wide. In their early developmental stages they live as "leaf miners" on woody plants, and they constitute an economic pest in some areas. Unlike most animals, the early stages of gracillariid development are more diversified and structurally complex (especially for sap.feeding forms) than the later stages, which converge on the generalized morphology of a moth. Dr. David Wagner proposes a taxonomic revision of the North American species of the family. Geographic ranges, life histories, host associations, and morphological data from reared specimens will be synthesized. These data will also be used to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships among North American species. The proposed research has implications beyond gracillariid specialists. The proposed revision will facilitate ecological research and will help attempts to control this economically important pest. The resulting genealogical framework will allow future studies to explore the evolution of different life histories and developmental pathways. This group and this research project will attract the attention of developmental biologists, ecologists, systematists, functional morphologists, and evolutionary biologists in general.