ARTS: Revising Ceraphronoidea (Hymenoptera), a possible link between sawflies and apocritan wasps

角蜂总科是一种小型的、未被研究的寄生蜂，其幼虫以其他昆虫为食，并最终杀死其他昆虫。天牛总科的许多种类在农业系统的害虫生物防治计划中都是重要的。天牛总科似乎也是我们理解膜翅目进化的关键缺失的一环，膜翅目是一个由100多万个物种(占所有生物的10%)代表的昆虫谱系。该项目将产生可广泛获取的资源，为今后对这些昆虫的研究扫除障碍，其中包括：基于分子和解剖学数据的系统发育图、经修订的高级分类、标本图像、数万个标本的数据、与农业有关的群体的物种一级专著，以及利用分子和解剖学数据鉴定物种的强大工具。该项目还将测试一种描述物种的新方法。这种新方法增加了生物多样性数据的开放性和可及性，并允许人们对颜色、纹理、形状和其他表型进行分析，以寻找生态模式并帮助诊断物种。该方法适用范围广，可以连接任何生物体的分类学处理的数据，这在分类学上是第一次。当代形态学方法研讨会将促进这一新方法的培训和传播。两名研究生将被培训为天牛总科的综合系统学家和专家，这是十多年来的第一次。

Ceraphronoidea are small, under-studied parasitoid wasps whose larvae feed on and eventually kill other insects. Many species of Ceraphronoidea are important in biological pest control programs in agricultural systems. Ceraphronoidea also appear to be the missing link that is critical for our understanding of the evolution of Hymenoptera, a lineage of insects represented by more than a million species (10% of all organisms). This project will result in broadly accessible resources that lift barriers to future research on these insects, including: a phylogeny based on molecular and anatomical data, a revised higher-level classification, images of specimens, data for tens of thousands of specimens, species-level monographs for agriculturally-relevant groups, and robust tools that use molecular and anatomical data for identification of species. The project will also test a novel approach for describing species. This new method increases the openness and accessibility of biodiversity data and allows one to do analyses of color, texture, shape, and other phenotypes in order to look for ecological patterns and to assist in diagnosing species. The approach is broadly applicable and stands to connect data from taxonomic treatments of any organism, a first for taxonomy. A workshop in contemporary morphology methods will facilitate training and dissemination of this new approach. Two graduate students will be trained as integrative systematists and experts of Ceraphronoidea, the first in over a decade.