Phylogeny, Biogeography and Evolution of Mimicry in Oedionychine Flea Beetles

该项目的重点是了解oedionychinid跳甲拟态的发生和进化模式。 这是一个由23个属组成的大组，其系统发育关系尚不清楚。 甲虫是多样的，丰富多彩的，并在其整个范围内参与了许多模仿复合体。 PI打算利用外骨骼和雄性生殖器的传统特征以及内部特征、雌性生殖器、感器和分子特征重建这一群体的生殖系统。 由于这一群体分布在三大洲的热带地区，阐明地理模式将提供一个基本框架，了解模仿在多样化中可能发挥的作用。 对这些数据的分析，单独和组合，将提供强有力的测试相关性，模仿，和这个古老的甲虫组合的进化假设。

The project is focused on understanding the phylogeny and evolutionary patterns of mimicry in the oedionychinid flea beetles. This is a large group of 23 genera, with the phylogenetic relationships not understood. The beetles are diverse, colorful, and involved in numerous mimicry complexes throughout their range. The PIs intend to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group using traditional characters of exoskeleton and male genitalia, as well as internal features, female genitalia, sensilla, and molecular characters. Because this group is distributed among three continents in tropical areas, elucidating the biogeographic patterns will provide a basic framework for understanding the role mimicry may have played in diversification. Analysis of these data, separately and combined, will provide powerful tests of hypotheses of relatedness, mimicry, and the evolution of this ancient assemblage of beetles.