GoLife: Collaborative Research: Integrative Genealogy, Ecology and Phenomics of Deltocephaline Leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), and their Microbial Associates

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Despite the enormous ecological and economic importance of insects, the majority of species are known only from a few museum specimens with little data on their behavior or ecological associations. Most insects also belong to large lineages that are difficult to study comprehensively because of their extreme diversity, the shortage of taxonomic expertise, and the difficulty of obtaining specimens suitable for detailed genetic study. This project will integrate multiple data layers for one such insect lineage, the plant-sap-sucking leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae, comprising 6,600 species and including many agricultural pests, invasive species, and species of conservation concern. Products will include a comprehensive and open-access set of digital tools for identifying leafhopper species and higher groups, a phylogeny showing the relationships among these groups, and an online database that organizes information on each species including geographic and seasonal distribution, anatomical traits, genomic information and associations with plants and microbes. These data will help facilitate identification and tracking of invasive species and contribute to improved knowledge of leafhopper biodiversity worldwide. They also will help identify genetic traits associated with the ability of leafhopper species to transmit plant disease pathogens, thereby enhancing prediction and management of threats to agriculture and food security.This project will construct an open-access phylogeny for the leafhopper subfamily Deltocephalinae. It also will create an online digital research platform that combines nomenclatural, morphological, ecological and distributional data from the previous literature and digitized collections to create a comprehensive set of identification tools and illustrated taxon pages for the leafhoppers. It also will establish a genome bank and use efficient next-generation DNA sequencing technology to capture genetic data informative of phylogenetic relationships, microbial associations (including endosymbionts and plant pathogens), and ecological traits (diet breadth and host-plant associations). It will provide intensive training for both students and established taxonomists to facilitate a global collaborative effort to fully document the biodiversity of leafhoppers and their plant and microbial associates. Finally, the project will provide a robust cyberinfrastructure and model workflows to support research on other diverse groups of organisms.