Hidden Taxonomic Diversity in European Chrysoperla Green Lacewings

绿草蛉是有益的掠食性昆虫，以蚜虫、鳞片和其他农作物的严重害虫为食。它们经常被人工饲养，以便在农业地区大量释放，在那里它们可以作为重要的生物防治剂。亨利等人发现，北美存在几种不同的绿草蛉，仅凭它们独特的求偶声就能区分开来。长相相似的草蛉在欧洲也有发现，但它们的叫声与北美的大不相同，而且因地区而异。在过去，所有这些欧洲和北美的草蛉都被认为是可以互换的单一物种，Chrysoperla carnea，并且为了生物控制的目的，它们可以自由地出口和进口横跨大西洋。然而，由于不同的物种会表现出强烈的猎物偏好和其他个人主义行为，因此一些大规模饲养和释放的绿草蛉可能对某些目标害虫相对无效。应加强生物防治工作，认识到这种草蛉物种群中隐藏的生物多样性，并开始在每个大陆、地区或栖息地使用最合适的“歌种”。这个项目将使用鸣叫分析来调查欧洲绿草蛉中隐藏的物种多样性，就像对北美绿草蛉所做的那样。因此，研究人员将确定在这一具有重要经济意义的昆虫群中存在多少种真正的物种，以及哪些物种适合用于世界不同地区的生物害虫防治计划。也许，更重要的是，这个项目将作为研究昆虫和其他生物群体的生物多样性的歌曲或其他行为特征的重要性的一个模型。

Green lacewings are beneficial predatory insects that eat aphids, scales, and other serious pests of crop plants. They are often raised artificially for mass release in agricultural areas where they can serve as important agents of biological control. Henry et. al. have found that several distinct North American species of green lacewings exist which can be told apart only by their unique courtship songs. Similar-looking lacewings are found in Europe, but these have songs that differ greatly from North American ones and vary from region to region. In the past, all of these European and North American lacewings have been thought of interchangeably as a single species, Chrysoperla carnea, and have been freely exported and imported across the Atlantic for biological control purposes. However, since different species can show strong prey preferences and other individualistic behaviors, it is feasible that some mass reared and released green lacewings might be relatively ineffective against certain targeted pest species. Efforts at biological control should be enhanced by recognizing the hidden biodiversity within this lacewing species complex and beginning to use the most appropriate "song species" in each continent, area or habitat. %%% This project will investigate the hidden species diversity in European green lacewings using song analysis, just as has been done for the North American ones. Thus, the investigators will determine how many true species exist in this economically important insect group and which are appropriate for use in biological pest control programs in different areas of the world. Perhaps, even more importantly, this project will serve as a model of the importance of song or other behavioral traits in investigating biodiversity in insects and other groups of organisms.