Collaborative Research: RUI: Extreme polyphagy, extreme diversity or both? Armored scale insects of tropical rainforests on 4 continents

调查人员将对四大洲热带雨林遗址的甲壳虫进行调查。他们将建立一个样本和他们的DNA的参考集合。利用DNA序列和解剖学特征，他们将发现和描述新物种，调查它们的进化史，并制作在线互动密钥。许多甲壳虫是入侵性害虫，在美国估计每年造成20亿美元的损失。这些害虫中的许多都可以以极其丰富的植物为食，而且很可能是热带雨林等植物多样性高的地区的本土生物。然而，热带雨林的装甲鳞片昆虫区系尚不清楚。在一项初步研究中，研究人员发现，这些世界性害虫中的几种在巴拿马热带雨林的树冠上很常见。这些可能是地球上数量最多的食草动物。该项目将首次在它们可能的祖先栖息地进行调查，并可能发现其他还不是入侵害虫但未来可能成为入侵害虫的物种。与此同时，调查人员将开发工具，使检查人员能够在这些有害生物出现在植物检疫中时识别它们。

The investigators will survey the armored scale insects of tropical rainforest sites on four continents. They will build a reference collection of specimens and their DNA. Using both DNA sequences and anatomical features, they will discover and describe new species, investigate their evolutionary history, and produce an online interactive key. Many armored scale insects are invasive pests, costing an estimated $2 billion per year in the US. Many of these pests can feed on an extraordinarily large diversity of plants, and are probably native to areas with high plant diversity such as tropical rainforests. However, the armored scale insect fauna of tropical rainforests is unknown. In a pilot study, the investigators found that several of these worldwide pest species are common in a Panama rainforest canopy. These may be some of the most abundant herbivores on earth. This project will investigate them for the first time in their probable ancestral habitat, and will likely discover other species that are not yet invasive pests but that are likely to become invasive pests in the future. At the same time the investigators will develop tools that will enable inspectors to identify these pests if and when they show up in plant quarantine.