Collaborative Research: Systematics and Evolutionary Biology of the Drosophila Quinaria Species Group

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9629517 GRIMALDI This award will support Dr. David Grimaldi's contribution to a research project being done in collaboration with Dr. Greg Spicer. Grimaldi will utilize morphological, ecological, and behavioral information for a group of flies, the Drosophila quinaria species group (Insecta: Diptera: Drosophilidae), to derive a phylogeny of relationships among the species. He will also pursue a biogeographic analysis of the group which is largely Holarctic in distribution but does include a single described species of unknown affiliation from China that may represent the tip of an iceberg of undescribed species from that region. Grimaldi's results will be integrated with those of Spicer who will pursue a molecular phylogenetic analysis of these same species. At present, the group is of a manageable size, with 28 described species that show interesting biological diversity in habitat and breeding sites. It is hoped that the combined morphological and molecular evidence will result in a fully resolved phylogeny that, in the future, can be used to address several interesting evolutionary questions, including determinants of Drosophila host range in parasitic nematodes and phylogenetic constraints on shifting to a new ecological niche such as mushroom breeding with possible concomitant shifts in tolerance of mushroom toxins. This award will contribute to our understanding of an element of insect biodiversity and begin to provide information concerning how species change habit and host associations through time.