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

9972724毛翅目毛翅蝇和翅翅目毛翅蝇是世界范围内河流和湖泊中常见而丰富的生物。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，它们自己以鱼类为食。球虱对污染非常敏感，是水质的重要生物指标。在新热带地区，该类群的分类和鉴定状况不佳，阻碍了它们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受到我们有限的物种识别能力的阻碍。卡迪蝇属和叶蝇属（卡迪蝇科）构成了这些鲜为人知的类群之一。这些物种是新热带球虱动物群中引人注目的成员，它们相对较大，与大多数球虱不同的是，在成年阶段，它们的翅膀颜色鲜艳。它们的显著性和丰富性使它们成为潜在的非常有用的生物指示物。不幸的是，出版的描述和插图，许多可以追溯到上个世纪，不足以用于物种鉴定。许多疑似新物种是在过去几十年收集的标本中被描述出来的，而这些物种之间的进化关系从未被研究过。明尼苏达大学的研究生Aysha Prather在Ralph Holzenthal博士的指导下，正在对这两个属和相关属的博物馆标本进行形态和分子分析，以进行分类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从博物馆收藏的疑似新物种中测量的形态特征将为物种的分类描述、可靠识别密钥的构建、地理分布范围图和生物体关键识别特征的说明提供主要材料。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为这两属与其他扇尾虫的亲缘关系以及在亲缘科中的定位提供信息。该项目将为今后在系统分类学、生态学、行为学和水质监测等方面的研究提供分类基础和系统发育框架。

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.