Collaborative Research: The Opiliones of New Zealand: Revisionary synthesis and application of species delimitation for testing biogeographic hypotheses

新西兰提供了一个理想的环境，可以将进化研究和生物地理学- -生物在太空中的分布- -结合起来。自从大约8000万年前从冈瓦纳分离出来以来，这个群岛一直与其他大陆隔绝，随后在渐新世发生了剧烈的洪水，在南阿尔卑斯山形成期间发生了大规模的山体形成，在末次冰期极大期发生了气候变化，所有这些都在它的生物群上留下了印记。本研究旨在研究这些历史过程，同时对一个独特的类群（Opiliones - harvestmen或daddy long-legs）进行修订，这些类群起源于古代，因此在它们的进化史中见证了这些地质变化。为此，研究小组将结合经典的分类学方法和尖端的分子方法来了解这种未被研究的蛛形纲动物的多样性和进化史。这项研究还将有助于通过博物馆展览和广泛的倡议在岛屿上传播进化研究，并有助于培训能够将基因组学与生物多样性的发现和分析结合起来的下一代进化生物学家。这将是对新西兰蛛形纲的第一次全面分类处理。由于许多自然栖息地的退化，新西兰是一个物种组成独特的地区，也是一个生物多样性保护重点的热点地区。三所美国机构的博士后研究人员和许多学生将接受广泛的培训，并积极参与研究工作。本研究将集中在新西兰5个本地科223个已命名物种的Opiliones目。现代的物种发现方法可能会修改这个总数，这个总数已经预计会增加大约20%。由于比较动物学博物馆现有的大量收藏品，以及新西兰博物馆中大多数类型（用于描述和命名物种的原始标本）的可用性，本研究旨在解决这种动物群，并研究在不同时间尺度和前所未有的水平上形成它的进化过程。结合新一代序列数据和前沿形态学技术，将为新西兰的Opiliones物种多样性提供一个严格的估计，并为世界其他地区提供一个适用的例子。这项研究将使用来自200个个体的转录组学数据来生成三个南半球谱系的系统发育，这将允许测试与古地方主义和古冈瓦纳分裂事件有关的生物地理学假设。然后，选定的属将被用于使用rad测序NGS方法测试与冈瓦纳后地质历史相关的生物地理学假设，包括渐新世海侵，南阿尔卑斯山造山运动和末次冰期最大避难所。最后，该研究的目标是编写关于新西兰欧皮龙所有物种的分类学专著，同时制定新的标准，将生物多样性数据（包括图像、视频和基因组数据）与通过在线公开的中央数据库MCZbase的标本记录联系起来。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

New Zealand offers an ideal setting in which to combine the study of evolution and biogeography - the distribution of living beings in space. The archipelago has been shaped by isolation from other landmasses since it split from Gondwana approximately 80 million years ago, followed by drastic flooding during the Oligocene, massive mountain building during the formation of the Southern Alps, and changing climate during the Last Glacial Maximum, all of which have left a signature on its biota. This research aims to study these historical processes while conducting a revision of a unique group of arachnids (order Opiliones - harvestmen or daddy long-legs) of ancient origin and that therefore have witnessed these geological changes through their evolutionary history. For this, the research team will combine classic taxonomic methods with cutting-edge molecular approaches to understand the diversity and evolutionary history of this under-studied group of arachnids. The research will also contribute to disseminating evolutionary research in islands through museum exhibits and broad initiatives and to train the next generation of evolutionary biologists able to combine genomics with biodiversity discovery and analysis. This will constitute the first comprehensive taxonomic treatment of an arachnid order in New Zealand, an area of unique species composition and a biodiversity hotspot for conservation priorities due to the degradation of many natural habitats. Postdoctoral researchers and and many students at three US institutions will receive extensive training and be heavily involved in the research effort. This research will focus on the order Opiliones represented in New Zealand by 223 named species in five native families. Contemporary approaches to species discovery may revise this total number, which is already expected to increase by approximately 20%. With the large existing collections at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and the availability of most types (original specimens used to describe and name species) in New Zealand museums, this research aims to tackle this fauna and study the evolutionary processes that shaped it at different time-scales and at an unprecedented level. A rigorous estimate of the Opiliones species diversity in New Zealand will be provided by using a combination of next-generation sequence data and cutting edge morphological techniques, serving as an example applicable to other regions of the world. The research will use transcriptomic data from 200 individuals to generate phylogenies of three southern Hemisphere lineages that will allow testing of biogeographic hypotheses related to paleo-endemism and ancient Gondwanan breakup events. Selected genera will then be used to test biogeographic hypotheses related to post-Gondwanan geological history, including Oligocene marine transgressions, Southern Alps orogeny and Last Glacial Maximum refugia, using a RAD-sequencing NGS approach. Finally the research aims to produce taxonomic monographs treating all the species of New Zealand Opiliones while developing new standards for linking biodiversity data, including images, videos, and genomic data, to specimen records through the centralized database MCZbase, publicly available online.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.