Dissertation Research: Field Work in Support of a Phylogenetic Study of the Mosquito Tribe Sabethini (Diptera:Culicidae)

9311376沙贝斯尼蚊子(双翅目：蚊科)是蚊子部落中最不为人所知的，但他们具有相当大的医学和生物学价值。物种分布在世界各地的环亚热带地带，在热带地区实现了最大的多样性。除了极少数例外，所有的卵都被限制在植物水域(菠萝科植物、猪笼草、种子豆荚等)中存放。该分类群表现出一系列蚊子的非典型行为，如从蚂蚁身上窃取花蜜和雌性蚊子孵卵。此外，12个属中有3个具有传播虫媒病毒的能力。由于缺乏明确的系统发育假说，人们无法从进化的角度对这些现象进行考察。我们的初步数据表明，Sabesini是一个单系群，然而，其中两个较大的属是多系的。这篇论文将包括在世界范围内对系统发育关系的研究。来自三个生命阶段的形态特征系统将被用来产生关于关系的可靠假设。在此，我们请求为博物馆和实地研究提供资金，以扩大对在初步分析中发现有问题的重要旧大陆分类群的复盖面。我们预计我们的结果将对蚊子分类和进化生物学的其他领域产生立竿见影的影响。%这个博士论文改进奖为一名研究生提供旅费和用品，让他到巴西进行实地考察，并研究主要收藏的蚊子材料。该项目将在世界范围内对萨贝蒂尼蚊子部落进行必要的重大修订。这个部落中的一些物种传播由虫媒病毒引起的疾病，因此建立它们的关系具有重要的医学意义。此外，这种对关系的理解将为解决这些蚊子表现出的有趣行为现象提供有价值的框架，例如雌性产卵和从蚂蚁身上窃取花蜜。***

9311376 Woolley The Sabethini (Diptera: Culicidae) are the least well known of the mosquito tribes, yet they are of considerable medical and biological interest. Species are distributed worldwide in a circumsubtropical band, achieving their greatest diversity in the tropics. With few exceptions, all are restricted to depositing eggs in plant held waters (bromeliads, pitcher plants, seed pods, etc.). The taxon exhibits a diversity of behaviors atypical for mosquitoes, such as nectar stealing from ants and egg brooding by females. In addition, three of the twelve genera have the capacity to vector arboviruses. Lack of explicit phylogenetic hypotheses has prevented the examination of these phenomena from an evolutionary standpoint. Our preliminary data indicate that Sabethini is a monophyletic group, however, two of the larger genera are polyphyletic. The dissertation will include study of phylogenetic relationships on a worldwide basis. Morphological character systems from three life stages will be used to produce a robust hypothesis of relationships. Here we request funds for museum and field studies to increase coverage of critical Old World taxa and groups found to be problematic in preliminary analyses. We expect our results to have an immediate impact on mosquito classification and other fields in evolutionary biology. %%% This PhD dissertation improvement award provides travel money and supplies for a graduate student to do field work in Brazil and study mosquito material in major collections. The project will produce a needed major worldwide revision of the mosquito tribe Sabethini. Some species in this tribe transmit diseases caused by arboviruses, so establishing their relationships will have medical importance. In addition, such an understanding of relationships will provide a valuable framework for addressing interesting behavioral phenomena exhibited by these mosquitoes such as female egg brooding and nectar stealing from ants. ***