PEET: Phylogenetic Systematics of Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea)

介壳虫(昆虫纲：半翅目：茧蜂总科)是一种小型的吸食植物的昆虫，具有特殊的生物学和形态特征。它们表现出不寻常的发育、性别二型性，并具有显著的遗传系统多样性，包括孤雌生殖、两性生殖和父本基因组消除。许多物种是重要的害虫，通过清除汁液、生长扭曲、病原菌传播和蜜露污染而对植物造成损害。尽管已经描述了7500多种介壳虫，但还有许多其他未描述的物种，而且很大一部分已命名的物种，特别是在热带和南半球，很难或不可能与现有文献相一致。介壳虫的分类在很大程度上是基于成年雌性的显微角质层特征，鉴定需要在显微镜载玻片制备方面的特殊技术技能。在世界范围内，规模昆虫研究人员(杀虫专家)的数量，特别是分类学家的数量正在下降，通过学生培训招聘的人员很少。该项目结合了鳞虫系统学家P.J.Gullan博士和D.R.Miller博士以及分子系统学家B.B.Normark博士的专业知识，对球虫学学生进行分类专论、系统发育系统学和计算机数据分析、说明和传播方面的培训。研究的目标是表现出不寻常的繁殖模式、鲜为人知和/或难以识别的三个椰子总科。它们是(1)马甲科的Iceryini族，(2)装甲鳞科Diaspididae族的Chion aspis Signret属，以及(3)软鳞科的Myzolecaniinae亚科。学生将接受实地技术、分类学和馆藏方法以及形态和分子特征数据的系统发育分析方面的培训。实习研究人员将利用北美两个规模最大的昆虫收藏的标本和专业图书馆--美国马里兰州农业部的美国国家可可总科收藏和加州大学戴维斯分校的博哈特昆虫学博物馆。学生将学习如何对形态和分子特征进行评分，使用计算机程序管理这些数据，使用这些数据来推断系统发育树，并使用这些树来构建分类和推断生物特征的进化。这将导致培训新一代关于这些重要昆虫的分类学专家。该项目的产品将包括出版的专著、数据库和基于网络的交互式密钥，这些密钥使用数字图像，将对生态学家、农学家、保护生物学家、遗传学家和其他人产生广泛的影响和实用。

The scale insects (Insecta: Hemiptera: Coccoidea) are small, plant-sucking insects withextraordinary biological and morphological characteristics. They display unusual development, sexual dimorphism, and have a remarkable diversity of genetic systems, including parthenogenesis, hermaphroditism and paternal genome elimination. Many species are important pests, causing plant damage via sap removal, growth distortion, pathogen vectoring and honeydew contamination. Although more than 7500 species of scale insects have been described, there are many additional undescribed species, and a substantial proportion of the named species, especially in the tropics and southern hemisphere, are difficult or impossible to identify with existing literature. Scale insect taxonomy is based largely on microscopic cuticular features of adult females and identification requires special technical skills in microscope slide preparation. Worldwide the number of scale insect researchers (coccidologists), especially taxonomists, is declining and recruitment via student training is minimal. This project combines the expertise of scale insect systematists, Drs. P.J. Gullan and D.R. Miller, and molecular systematist, Dr. B.B. Normark, to train coccidology students in taxonomic monography, phylogenetic systematics and computer-based data analysis, illustration and dissemination. Three clades of Coccoidea that display unusual modes of reproduction and are poorly-known and/or difficult to identify are targeted for study. These are (1) the tribe Iceryini of the Margarodidae, (2) the genus Chionaspis Signoret, tribe Diaspidini, of the armored scale family, Diaspididae, and (3) the subfamily Myzolecaniinae of the soft scale family, Coccidae. Students will be trained in field techniques and in taxonomic and curatorial methods, as well as in phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular character data. The trainee researchers will utilize the specimens and specialist librariesof the two largest scale insect collections in North America - the United States NationalCollection of Coccoidea at the United States Department of Agriculture, Maryland, and the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Students will learn to score morphological and molecular characters, to manage those data using computer programs, to use the data to infer phylogenetic trees, and to use those trees to construct classifications and infer the evolution of biological traits. This will result in training a new generation of taxonomic specialists on these important insects. Products of the project will include published monographs, databases, and web-based interactive keys that employ digital images that will have broad impact and utility to ecologists, agriculturists, conservation biologists, geneticists, and others.