Basal Lineages of the Phoridae (Insecta: Diptera)

蚓科的基础谱系（昆虫纲：双翅目）

• 批准号: 0516420
• 负责人: Brian Brown
• 金额: $ 48.71万
• 依托单位: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2009-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0516420&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Basal; Lineages; Phoridae; Insecta; Diptera

The Phoridae is an extremely large group of small, poorly-known flies,some of which are pests of agriculture, and others of which havepotential for biological control of pest insects. There are about 3,500described species in this family, but actual totals for the world faunaare closer to 35,000, meaning that only about 10% of them have beendescribed by scientists. These flies are among the most biologicallydiverse insects, with some being scavengers, herbivores, predators, andparasites. Some have become associated with ants and termites, and havebizarrely modified females that lack wings and have a beetle-likeprotective structure. There has been sharp disagreement about theclassification of the most primitive groups of phorid flies, which hashampered the understanding of their relationships and diversity. Theprimitive phorids will be studied on a worldwide basis using bodystructure as well as DNA sequences by a team of a museum-basedmorphologist and a university-based molecular expert. Molecularcharacters will include about 4000 base pairs of both mitochondrial andnuclear genes. Field expeditions will be carried out in Europe, NorthAmerica, South America, New Zealand, and southeast Asia to collect freshspecimens for analysis; additional specimens from Africa will beprovided by collaborators. Additionally, we will revise the New Worldspecies of the largest genus of primitive phorids, Dohrniphora. Thisgenus is currently known from 85 described species, but we will describethe approximately 100 further new species that exist, addingconsiderably to our knowledge of tropical insect biodiversity.Phorid flies are a highly significant part of the world's biodiversitythat has been barely addressed by scientists. Study of the morphologyand genes of primitive phorids will allow us to understand how traitslike parasitism or herbivory have arisen within this group, and perhapsin other insects as well. It will provide a robust framework for theclassification of these flies that will foster better communicationabout their relationships. A firm understanding of the species ofDohrniphora will allow these small, easily collected insects to be usedin conservation assessment in tropical rain forests, and will allow usto learn more about diversification of tropical insect faunas. Projectswill include undergraduate students, who will gain valuable expertise inboth field and laboratory work.

Phoridae是一个非常大的群体，小的，知之甚少的苍蝇，其中一些是农业害虫，而另一些则具有生物防治害虫的潜力。在这个科中大约有3,500个被描述的物种，但世界动物群的实际总数接近35,000个，这意味着只有大约10%的物种被科学家描述过。这些苍蝇是生物学上最多样化的昆虫之一，有些是食腐动物，食草动物，捕食者和寄生虫。有些已经与蚂蚁和白蚁联系在一起，并且有奇怪的修改女性，没有翅膀，有一个甲虫般的保护结构。关于蚤蝇最原始类群的分类一直存在着尖锐的分歧，这影响了对它们之间关系和多样性的理解。一个由博物馆形态学家和大学分子专家组成的小组将利用身体结构和DNA序列在世界范围内研究原始的隐孢子虫。分子特征将包括线粒体和核基因的大约4000个碱基对。将在欧洲、北美洲、南美洲、新西兰和东南亚进行实地考察，收集新鲜标本进行分析;来自非洲的其他标本将由合作者提供。此外，我们将修订最大的原始隐孢子虫属，Dohrniphora的新世界种。该属目前已知有85种，但我们将进一步描述大约100种新的物种，大大增加我们对热带昆虫生物多样性的了解。蜱蝇是世界生物多样性的一个非常重要的部分，科学家们几乎没有提到过。对原始隐翅虫的形态学和基因的研究将使我们了解寄生性或食草性等特征是如何在这一群体中产生的，或许也在其他昆虫中产生。它将为这些苍蝇的分类提供一个强大的框架，这将促进关于它们之间关系的更好的沟通。对Dohrniphora物种的深入了解将使这些小的、容易收集的昆虫被用于热带雨林的保护评估，并将使我们更多地了解热带昆虫区系的多样性。项目将包括本科生，谁将获得宝贵的专业知识，在现场和实验室工作。