Phylogeny and Evolution of Antlions and their Allies: Neuroptera: Myrmeleontiodea

蚁狮及其盟友的系统发育和进化：脉翅目：蚁总科

• 批准号: 9407165
• 负责人: John Oswald
• 金额: $ 1.95万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-12-15 至 1997-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9407165&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Phylogeny; Evolution; Antlions; their; Allies

9407165 Oswald Pit-building antlions have fascinated generations of amateur and professional biologists with their intriguing behavior of building conical pit-fall traps in loose sand or soil to capture small ground-walking prey. These animals are the larvae of a very successful group of approximately 1700 species of small to medium sized insect predators assigned to the family Myrmeleontidae. It has been suggested that an important factor in the diversification of this group of insects was the development by their larvae of the ability to adapt to living in loose granular substrata, particularly sand. These substrata may have provided a relatively unoccupied ecological zone or niche into which antlions could speciate because relatively few other animals had previously been able to effectively utilize such environments. The research supported by this grant will test this empty niche hypothesis by examining the distributions of morphological characters among numerous species of antlions and other closely related insects. Evidence supporting the hypothesis will have been found, if the first appearance of characters that adapt antlions to a life in granular substrata correlates with the origin of this group. %%% This study will provide important information for improving antlion classification, interpreting historical (phylogenetic) relationships among major groups of antlions and related groups, and studying the origin and development of animal behaviors. The study is one component of a longer-term research program aimed at improving our knowledge of relationships among the 17 families of the insect order Neuroptera (lacewings), an important group of predatory insects that includes several subgroups that are of interest for their potential use in the biological control of crop and ornamental plant pests. ***

9407165奥斯瓦尔德筑坑蚁群吸引了一代又一代的业余和专业生物学家，它们在松散的沙子或土壤中筑圆锥形的陷阱来捕捉地面行走的小猎物。这些动物是一个非常成功的群体的幼虫，大约有1700种小型到中型的食肉昆虫被分配到mymileleontidae科。有人认为，这类昆虫多样化的一个重要因素是它们的幼虫能够适应生活在松散的颗粒状基质中，特别是沙子中。这些基质可能提供了一个相对未被占领的生态区或生态位，因为相对较少的其他动物以前能够有效地利用这种环境。该基金支持的研究将通过研究蚁群和其他密切相关的昆虫的形态特征分布来验证这一空生态位假说。如果使蚁群适应颗粒状基质生活的特征的首次出现与这一群体的起源相关联，那么支持这一假设的证据就会被发现。这项研究将为进一步完善蚁群分类、解释蚁群主要类群及相关类群之间的历史（系统发育）关系、研究动物行为的起源和发展提供重要信息。这项研究是一个长期研究项目的组成部分，旨在提高我们对神经翅目（草蛉）昆虫17科之间关系的认识，这是一种重要的掠食性昆虫，包括几个亚群，它们在作物和观赏植物害虫的生物控制中具有潜在的应用价值。＊＊＊