Dissertation Research: Phylogenetic analysis of the family Calamoceratidae (Trichoptera), and a revision of the Neotropical genera Phylloicus and Banyallarga

9972724Holzenthal 和 Prather Caddisflies（毛翅目）是世界各地河流和湖泊中常见且丰富的生物。作为水生食物网的重要成员，它们以有机物质和其他水生无脊椎动物为食，并且它们本身也被鱼类为食。石蚕对污染非常敏感，是水质的重要生物指标。在新热带地区，该类群的分类和识别状况较差，阻碍了其在水质监测中的应用。对它们的进化、生物学和生态学的研究也因我们识别物种的能力有限而受到阻碍。 Banyallarga 属和 Phylloicus（Calamoceratidae 科）中的石蛾属于这些鲜为人知的类群之一。这些物种是新热带石蛾动物群的显着成员，体型相对较大，并且与大多数石蛾不同，在成虫阶段具有引人注目的彩色翅膀。它们的显着性和丰富性使它们作为生物指示剂非常有用。 不幸的是，已发表的描述和插图（许多可以追溯到上世纪）不足以进行物种鉴定。许多可疑的新物种在过去几十年的收集中都没有被描述，这些物种之间的进化关系也从未被研究过。研究生艾莎·普拉瑟（Aysha Prather）在明尼苏达大学拉尔夫·霍尔森塔尔博士的指导下，正在对两个属和相关属的博物馆标本进行形态学和分子分析，以进行分类学修订和属级系统发育分析。从所有已知物种的幼虫和成虫阶段以及博物馆收藏的可疑新物种中测量的形态特征将为物种分类描述、构建可靠的识别键、地理分布范围图以及生物体关键识别特征的图示提供主要材料。线粒体细胞色素氧化酶 I 基因的 DNA 序列数据和形态特征将提供有关这两个属与其他卡拉莫角石蛾的关系以及该科在相关科中的位置的信息。该项目将为该石蛾类群提供分类学基础和系统发育框架，以推进系统学、生态学、行为和水质监测方面的未来研究。

9972724Holzenthal and PratherCaddisflies (Trichoptera) are common and abundant organisms in rivers and lakes world wide. As important members of aquatic food webs, they feed on organic material and other aquatic invertebrates and themselves are fed upon by fish. Caddisflies are very sensitive to pollution and are important biological indicators of water quality. In the Neotropics, the poor state of taxonomic classification and identification for the group hinders their use for water quality monitoring. Research into their evolution, biology, and ecology is also hampered by our limited ability to identify species. Caddisflies in the genera Banyallarga and Phylloicus (family Calamoceratidae) make up one of these poorly known groups. These species are conspicuous members of the Neotropical caddisfly fauna, being relatively large and, unlike most caddisflies, with strikingly colored wings in the adult stage. Their conspicuousness and abundance make them potentially very useful as bioindicators. Unfortunately, published descriptions and illustrations, many dating back to the last century, are inadequate for species identification. Many suspected new species are undescribed from collections made over the last several decades, and evolutionary relationships among these species have never been examined.Graduate student Aysha Prather, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Holzenthal at the University of Minnesota, is conducting a combined morphological and molecular analysis of museum specimens of the two genera and of related genera, to produce a taxonomic revision and genus-level phylogenetic analyses. Morphological characters measured from larval and adult stages of all known species and from museum collections of suspected new species will provide the major materials for the taxonomic description of species, the construction of reliable identification keys, range maps of geographic distributions, and illustrations of critical identifying features of the organisms. DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene and morphological characters will provide information on the relationships of the two genera to other calamoceratid caddisflies and the placement of the family among related families. This project will provide a taxonomic foundation and phylogenetic framework within this group of caddisflies to advance future research in systematics, ecology, behavior, and water quality monitoring.