SG: Investigating a cross-kingdom convergence: The phylogeny of stick insects and the evolution of masquerade crypsis (Insecta: Phasmatodea)

棍虫和叶虫是大型的热带食草动物，具有令人难以置信的模仿树枝、树皮和树叶的能力。尽管是热带生态系统中的重要参与者，但在任何大型昆虫群体中，棒状昆虫的多样性和进化是最不被了解的。许多棍状昆虫依靠蚂蚁来帮助分散它们的卵，但人们对这种复杂的相互作用是如何演变的知之甚少。该项目将导致对棍虫进化的更多了解，以及对物种多样性的第一次全面了解。由于棍虫在热带地区很常见且种类繁多，这项研究将为正在进行的热带保护工作提供关键的基线数据。四名本科生将接受以棍虫为重点的科学过程方方面面的培训。针对K-12学生的互动博物馆展览将展示棍状昆虫伪装的演变、蚂蚁协会，以及这些昆虫在自然界中扮演的角色。展览还将重点关注热带地区的保护问题，将豪王棒虫作为物种拯救和恢复的例子。该项目将基于DNA序列数据重建棒状昆虫的强大系统发育，记录不同棒状昆虫体型的平行进化，调查从隐匿到无融合生殖的转变，并确定这些转变是否与其他生活史特征和物种辐射相关。该项目将破译棒状昆虫产卵技术的演变，确定通过蚂蚁传播卵子的进化次数，调查成虫传播能力和对蚂蚁介导卵传播的依赖的相关性，并研究特定植物和拟态物种的时间和地理重叠。它还将提供基线数据，以了解棒状昆虫和被子植物中依赖蚂蚁介导卵传播的迷人的跨王国趋同。该项目将为未来的分类工作、修订的系统学和研究其独特形式的演变提供脚手架。

Stick and leaf insects are large, tropical herbivores with an incredible ability to mimic twigs, bark, and leaves. Despite being important players in tropical ecosystems, stick insect diversity and evolution is the least understood of any large insect group. Many stick insects rely on ants to help disperse their eggs, but little is known about how this complex interaction evolved. The project will result in a greater understanding of stick insect evolution and the first, comprehensive understanding of species diversity. Because stick insects are common and diverse in the tropics, this research will provide critical baseline data for ongoing tropical conservation efforts. Four undergraduate students will gain training in all aspects of the scientific process using stick insects as a focal group. An interactive museum exhibit targeted to K-12 students will present the evolution of stick insect camouflage, ant associations, and the role these insects play in the natural world. The exhibit will also focus on conservation issues in the tropics, using the Lord Howe Stick Insect as an example of species rescue and recovery. The project will reconstruct a robust phylogeny for stick insects based on DNA sequence data, document the parallel evolution of the different stick insect body types, investigate shifts from crypsis to aposematism, and determine whether these shifts are correlated with other life history traits and species radiations. The project will decipher the evolution of stick insect oviposition techniques, determine how many times egg dispersal via ants has evolved, investigate correlates of adult dispersal ability and reliance on ant-mediated egg dispersal, and study the temporal and geographic overlap of particular plant and phasmid species. It will also provide the baseline data to understand a fascinating cross-kingdom convergence on reliance on ant-mediated egg dispersal in both stick insects and angiosperms. This project will provide the scaffolding for future taxonomic work, revisionary systematics, and studies into the evolution of their unique forms.