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

东卡罗莱纳大学的Jason E. Bond博士和Paul E. marek先生获得了一笔拨款，用于加强、改进和支持该项目的论文项目——对分布在阿巴拉契亚山脉的千足虫部落Apheloriini（双足目：Polydesmida）进行分类和进化研究。警告性（警告色）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密切相关的同域属表现出强烈的颜色和图案相似性。这些千足虫为研究模仿进化提供了一个极好的系统。然而，到目前为止，由于缺乏健全的分类结构和健全的系统发育，对这种千足虫类群的拟态和其他有趣的进化问题的研究一直受到阻碍。本项目将提供：(1)基于系统发育的Apheloriini分类系统；(2)对长尾草属植物进行系统的修订，包括进化关系的重建、新种描述和现有分类群的重新描述、地理分布和自然历史的记录以及易于使用的鉴定密钥的制作；(3)在Brachoria对不同的模仿场景进行假设驱动的测试。

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.