Phylogenomics and Morphology of the Hemipteroid Insect Orders

所有已知物种的一半以上是昆虫。半翅类昆虫包括真虫、叶蝉、蚜虫、蓟马和寄生虱子，包括12万多个描述物种，约占昆虫多样性的12%。这类昆虫包括多种农作物害虫和人类病媒生物。这个项目的目标是通过抽样170个目标物种来了解半翅目昆虫的亲缘关系树，这些物种涵盖了这一群体的多样性。用于分析的数据将包括从完整基因组中测序的1000多个基因和300多个特征的大型形态数据集。这个项目具有重要的科学意义，因为对于这类昆虫的科水平分类关系几乎没有共识。在这个项目过程中收集的大量数据应该最终解决这个问题。这些发现也将具有相当广泛的意义。例如，来自这些昆虫基因组的数据可能会揭示控制研究中包括的作物害虫的新策略。该项目还将包括对本科生和研究生以及博士后研究人员的培训。公共推广活动将包括一个流动科学中心的生命树展示和虫子身份证。

More than half of all known species are insects. The hemipteroid insects, which include true bugs, leafhoppers, aphids, thrips, and parasitic lice, comprise over 120,000 described species, about 12% of insect diversity. This group of insects contains many species of crop pests as well as human disease vectors. The goals of this project are to understand the family tree of relationships for the hemipteroids by sampling 170 target species covering the diversity of this group. Data for analysis will include over 1000 genes sequenced from complete genomes and a large morphological data set of over 300 characters.This project is scientifically important because there is little consensus regarding the family level taxonomic relationships of this group of insects. The large amount of data collected in the course of this project should conclusively solve this problem. The findings will also have considerable broader significance. For example, data from the genomes of these insects may reveal new strategies for control of the crop pest insects included in the study. This project will also include training for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral researchers. Public outreach activities will include a Tree of Life display for a Mobile Science Center and Bug ID cards.