DISSERTATION RESEARCH: A Time Scale for Scales: Basal Phylogeny and Divergence Times in Coccoidea (Hemiptera: Insecta)

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A Time Scale for Scales: Basal Phylogeny and Divergence Times in Coccoidea (Hemiptera: Insecta) Scale insects are plant pests of considerable significance in agriculture and forestry, causing billions of dollars in damage annually. For this reason, the taxonomy and identification of species is quite sophisticated and specialized, but relationships among the larger lineages are still poorly explored. With this grant, research will be expanded on the evolutionary relationships among the basal families of scale insects, using anatomical structures of the adult females and males as well as DNA sequences. The results will allow informed predictions to be made about groups whose biology (e.g., plant hosts) is poorly known. Since scale insects are so diverse in ambers 130 to 20 million years old, they are a model group to examine how plant-feeding insects have evolved with respect to the flowering plants (angiosperms). Scales preserved in ambers from around the world will be studied, and the anatomical data from the fossils in a large data set with the modern species analyzed. Select amber specimens will be scanned at the Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, to visualize obscured microscopic structures. The project will allow to determine when the families of scale insects diverged in geological time, and assess if their evolution coincided with that of the flowering plants. The PI and co-PI are actively involved with informal science education, and the funded work will be incorporated into it. The Co-PI has designed Entomology sessions of the biodiversity course for the NSF-sponsored Science Research Mentoring Program with which the AMNH Education Department is preparing the production of web material, and will be available through this online portal. The PI mentors two high school students in this program, working on amber. The Co-PI will also be involved in informal public education, including hands-on laboratory experiences for middle and high school students in the Sackler Educational Laboratory. Lastly, a product of this research will be an online interactive identification key available on the co-PI?s research website.