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

鳞片的时间尺度：茧蜂总科的基本系统发育和分化时代(半翅目：昆虫纲)尺虫是一种在农业和林业中具有重要意义的植物害虫，每年造成数十亿美元的损失。因此，物种的分类和鉴定是相当复杂和专门的，但较大的谱系之间的关系仍然很少被探索。利用这笔赠款，将利用成虫雌性和雄性的解剖结构以及DNA序列，扩大对介壳虫基本家族之间进化关系的研究。这一结果将使人们能够对其生物学(例如植物寄主)鲜为人知的群体做出明智的预测。由于介壳虫在1.3亿到2000万年前的琥珀中是如此的多样化，它们是研究以植物为食的昆虫是如何相对于开花植物(被子植物)进化的一个模型组。将研究保存在世界各地琥珀中的鳞片，并分析现代物种的大型数据集中化石的解剖数据。精选的琥珀样本将在阿贡国家实验室的高级光子源进行扫描，以可视化被遮挡的微观结构。该项目将允许确定介壳虫家族在地质时代的分歧，并评估它们的进化是否与开花植物的进化一致。国际科学计划和共同国际计划积极参与非正规科学教育，所资助的工作将纳入其中。该合作计划为NSF赞助的科学研究指导计划设计了生物多样性课程的昆虫学课程，AMNH教育部正在利用该计划准备网络材料的制作，并将通过这个在线门户网站提供。在这个项目中，PI指导了两名高中生，他们正在研究琥珀。CoP还将参与非正式的公共教育，包括在萨克勒教育实验室为初中生和高中生提供的动手实验室体验。最后，这项研究的一个产品将是在线互动识别钥匙，可以在共同的皮？S研究网站上找到。

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.