IRFP: Towards Global Synthesis of Mud Crabs: Utilizing Phylogenetic Relatedness to Derive a Biologically Meaningful Classification and Infer Historical Origins of Cryptogenic Taxa

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The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct nine to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twenty-four-month research fellowship by Dr. Brent P. Thoma to work with Prof. Peter K. L. Ng at the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Republic of Singapore.This project aims to clarify the evolutionary relationships of the geographically widespread and taxonomically diverse superfamily of mud crabs known as Xanthoidea. The integration of studies on New and Old World taxa represents the largest genetic dataset of mud crabs, to date, with data for 10 genes from nearly 300 species. This information allows for the inference of evolutionary relationships of the mud crabs on a global scale in an effort to 1) test if the morphological characteristics currently used to delineate various xanthoid taxa reflect evolutionary relatedness or are the result of convergence, 2) determine if short branch lengths along the backbone of the xanthoid phylogeny are representative of a rapid radiation event that occurred early in the evolution of the mud crabs, and 3) infer the historical origins of potentially invasive or cryptogenic taxa.In addition to the obvious benefit of increased knowledge about the evolution of mud crabs, this research will help develop new international collaboration between the PI and research groups at Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research and the National University of Singapore, Republic of Singapore (Prof. Peter K. L. Ng, Dr. Joelle C. Y. Lai, and Dr. J. C. Mendoza) and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA (Prof. Darryl L. Felder).