Illuminating the Lanternfly Tree: Phylogeny of the Planthopper Families Fulgoridae and Dictyopharidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea) and their Bacterial Endosymbionts

照亮灯笼蝇树：飞虱科 Fulgoridae 和 Dictyopharidae（昆虫纲：半翅目：Fulgoroidea）的系统发育及其细菌内共生体

• 批准号: 1329505
• 负责人: Jason Cryan
• 金额: $ 18.9万
• 依托单位: Friends of the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-02-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1329505&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Illuminating; Lanternfly; Tree; Phylogeny; Planthopper

Lanternflies (order Hemiptera, family Fulgoridae) and their sister-group of planthoppers (family Dictyopharidae) constitute a strikingly diverse and exceedingly charismatic insect group, with some iconic species (such as the 'peanut-headed bug') ubiquitously used to exemplify bizarre insect evolution and tropical insect biodiversity. Together, these insect families include more than 1,000 described species that are distributed around the world (with the highest diversity occurring in the tropics). These insects are exclusively sap-feeding herbivores, and can cause damage to their host-plants. Additionally, the insects harbor, within their guts, multiple species of bacteria that provide essential nutrients to the insects that are not available in the insects' plant-sap diet. Despite the many interesting aspects of these insects, their evolutionary history is virtually unknown. The goal of this project is to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships within this group and to explore co-evolutionary trends between the insects and their bacterial endosymbionts. Analyses will be based on data integrating modern DNA sequencing technology and traditional comparative morphology. Products of this research will include not only the phylogenetic trees of the insects and their endosymbiotic bacteria, but also new internet-accessible tools to aid in the taxonomic identification of included species.This research will provide an evolutionary framework for integrating other scientific studies conducted on the biology and ecology of individual planthopper species. The identification tools to be developed will be of considerable value to scientists studying these insects. Additionally, the cutting-edge evolutionary analyses carried out through this research will serve as a model for similar studies on other plant and animal groups. This project will provide training for several students at virtually all academic levels, adding to the next generation of experts in systematic entomology.

灯蛾（半翅目，Fulgoridae科）和它们的姐妹群稻飞虱（网蝽科）构成了一个惊人的多样性和非常有魅力的昆虫群体，一些标志性的物种（如“花生头虫”）普遍用于描述奇异的昆虫进化和热带昆虫生物多样性。 这些昆虫家族包括分布在世界各地的1，000多个已描述的物种（热带地区的多样性最高）。 这些昆虫是专门以树液为食的食草动物，并可能对其寄主植物造成损害。 此外，昆虫的肠道内含有多种细菌，这些细菌为昆虫提供了植物汁液饮食中无法获得的必需营养素。 尽管这些昆虫有许多有趣的方面，但它们的进化历史几乎是未知的。 本项目的目标是重建该类群内的进化关系，并探讨昆虫与细菌内共生体之间的协同进化趋势。 分析将基于整合现代DNA测序技术和传统比较形态学的数据。 这项研究的成果将不仅包括昆虫及其内共生细菌的系统发育树，还包括新的互联网访问工具，以帮助分类鉴定所包括的物种。这项研究将提供一个进化框架，以整合对单个稻飞虱物种的生物学和生态学进行的其他科学研究。 有待开发的识别工具将对研究这些昆虫的科学家具有相当大的价值。 此外，通过这项研究进行的尖端进化分析将作为对其他植物和动物群体进行类似研究的模型。 该项目将为几乎所有学术水平的几名学生提供培训，增加下一代系统昆虫学专家。