Phylogeny and evolution of digger wasps based on molecular and morphological data, with special reference to their relationships to bees

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Digger wasps (“Sphecidae”, today apoid wasps) are a morphologically and behaviorally heterogeneous group of stinging, that is, aculeate Hymenoptera and comprises about 10,000 known species. They are considered to be a paraphyletic, artificial group, which does not originate from a stem species of its own. Together with the species-rich bees (Apiformes), they form a well-supported monophyletic Apoidea. In order to understand the phylogeny and evolution of the Apoidea including bees as well as the Aculeata in total, characterizing the monophyletic subgroups within apoid wasps is of great importance. This will also lead to solve the significant and still open question after the sistergroup of the bees. In order to achieve these goals, we will conduct phylogenetic analyses based on molecular and morphological characters. The dataset will comprise all higher-level taxa in apoid wasps, which will result in abpout 100 terminal taxa, including outgroups. For each we will sequence 10 genes. We will also extract relevant morphological characters from the literature, inuding many still unpublished characters provided by the applicants, which will be used to create a comprehensive datamatrix. We will employ both datasets in cladistic analysis, and the resulting trees will serve as a basis for hypotheses on character evolution in apoid wasps and within Apoidea.