DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Systematics and Color Mimicry Evolution of Cyanide-producing Millipedes of Appalachia (Polydesmida, Xystodesmidae, Apheloriini)

已授予杰森·E博士一笔赠款。邦德和东卡罗莱纳大学的保罗·E·马雷克先生，以加强、改进和支持生态PI的论文项目--对分布在阿巴拉契亚山脉的蜈蚣族Aapiliini（倍足目：Polydesmida）的分类和进化研究。 警戒色和颜色模仿是阿巴拉契亚千足虫属Brachoria最显著的特征。 该属的个体与其他几个同域分布的近缘属具有很强的颜色和图案相似性。 这些千足虫为研究拟态进化提供了极好的系统。 然而，到目前为止，由于缺乏健全的分类结构和健壮的进化史，对这一千足虫群的拟态和其他有趣的进化问题的研究一直受到阻碍。 该项目将提供：（1）一个基于拟态的分类系统;（2）一个系统的修订，包括重建进化关系，新物种的描述和现有分类单元的重新描述，地理分布和自然历史的文件，和生产的易用性的关键识别;和（3）一个假设驱动的测试替代拟态的情况下，在Brachoria。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. Jason E. Bond and Mr. Paul E.Marek of East Carolina University to enhance, improve, and support theco-PI's dissertation project - a taxonomic and evolutionary study of themillipede tribe Apheloriini (Diplopoda: Polydesmida) distributedthroughout the Appalachian Mountains. Aposematism (warning coloration)and color mimicry are among the most striking features of theAppalachian millipede genus Brachoria. Individuals in this genusdisplay strong color and pattern similarity with several other closelyrelated sympatric genera. These millipedes provide an excellent system for studyingmimicry evolution. However, until now investigating mimicry and otherinteresting evolutionary questions in this millipede group has beenhindered by the absence of a sound taxonomic structure and a robustphylogeny. This project will provide: (1) a phylogeny-basedclassification system of Apheloriini; (2) a systematic revision of the apheloriinegenus Brachoria that will include a reconstruction of evolutionary relationships, new species descriptions and redescriptions of existing taxa, documentation ofgeographical distributions and natural histories, and production ofeasy-to-use keys for identification; and (3) a hypothesis-driven test ofalternative mimicry scenarios in Brachoria.