PEET: Phylogeny and Historical Ecology of Mite Parasites of Vertebrates (ACARI: Dermanyssoidea and Sarcoptoidea)

阿卡里，蜱和螨，包括昆虫以外的动物的最大多样性。 尽管其巨大的多样性，螨类的系统学，进化和生态学的研究受到了积极的分类专家数量下降的阻碍。 本研究的重点是两个主要的谱系寄生螨与哺乳动物：皮螨总科和Sarcoptoidea。 这些群体有1,000多个物种，从未在超属水平上进行过遗传学分析。 实地研究将集中于马达加斯加和菲律宾鲜为人知的动物群。 将为这些岛屿地区的几个科制作分类学专著，包括许多新物种的描述，整合形态学和分子证据的系统发育假说，以及全世界所有皮瘤病和肉瘤病组的哺乳动物宿主目录。 它将提供一个预测性的概念框架，为大量的医学，兽医，生态和进化的利益，以及一个容易获得的来源，识别和主机信息的螨。 集中在马达加斯加和菲律宾的濒危动物群，也可以帮助保护生物学家和流行病学家了解本地和引进的宿主-寄生虫系统的相互作用及其在这些迅速变化的生态系统中的作用。 学生将发展系统分析的形态学和分子方法的技能和知识。 总共有三名研究生和大量的本科生将接受寄生螨的系统学、生态学和进化方面的培训。 研究结果将以电子方式提供。

The Acari, ticks and mites, includes the greatest diversity of animals outside of the insects. In spite of its great diversity, the study of acarine systematics, evolution, and ecology is hampered by a declining number of active taxonomic specialists. This study focuses on two major lineages of parasitic mites associated with mammals: Dermanyssoidea and Sarcoptoidea. These groups, with more than 1,000 species, have never been analyzed phylogenetically at the suprageneric level. Field studies will concentrate on poorly known faunas in Madagascar and the Philippines. Taxonomic monographs will be produced for several families for these insular areas including descriptions of many new species, phylogenetic hypotheses integrating morphological and molecular evidence, and catalogs of mammalian hosts for all dermanyssoid and sarcoptoid groups worldwide.This research will have immediate and longterm benefits to a wide range of biologists. It will provide a predictive, conceptual framework for a large number of mites of medical, veterinary, ecological, and evolutionary interest as well as an easily accessible source for identification and host information. Concentration on the endangered faunas of Madagascar and the Philippines may also aid conservation biologists and epidemiologists in understanding the interactions of native and introduced host-parasite systems and their roles in these rapidly changing ecosystems. Students will develop skills and knowledge in both morphological and molecular methods of systematic analysis. In all, three graduate students and a great number of undergraduate students will be trained in the systematics, ecology, and evolution of parasitic mites. Results of the research will be made accessible electronically.