Collaborative Research: ARTS: Integrating phylogenomics and taxonomic training to overcome the taxonomic impediment in the genus Nylanderia

蚂蚁是地球上最普遍和最重要的生态动物之一。它们的社会性导致了不同生活史和形态的进化，但估计有3万种蚂蚁中有一半尚未被发现，等待科学家的描述。蚂蚁的巨大影响延伸到入侵物种，这些物种是世界上最具生态和经济破坏性的分类群之一。有效管理入侵蚂蚁的主要障碍之一是分类的不确定性，也就是说，许多物种不能可靠地相互区分或与稳定的学名联系起来。例如，数百种Nylanderia属的蚂蚁彼此非常相似，但只有15种已知是有问题的。虽然这些蚂蚁很难识别，但它们无处不在，不容忽视；Nylanderia标本填满了博物馆不明蚂蚁的抽屉，在美国入境口岸截获的不明蚂蚁标本中，该属占20%。迫切需要对这一重要但分类混乱的蚂蚁属进行分类修订，以确定全球分类群的物种边界，以及命名目前缺乏描述的许多物种。由于许多入侵蚂蚁类群存在类似的问题，本项目还将重点放在培养下一代蚂蚁分类学家和专业昆虫识别者上，这对克服这一类群的分类障碍至关重要。该项目通过生成前所未有的分子基因组数据集，利用超保守元素（UCEs）来重建Nylanderia的全球进化史，从而避免了对蚂蚁工蚁形态的历史依赖。这一系统发育将成为该属详尽的分类修订的基础，它将澄清现有的命名法，描述100个新物种，并解决15个广泛入侵物种复合体的物种边界问题。通过关注内部和外部雄性形态对物种划分和实际鉴定的价值，研究人员将引入未开发的特征集到Nylanderia的研究中，并测试这些特征与目前使用的工蚁和蚁后的系统发育价值。该项目将通过包括新物种描述和入侵蚂蚁鉴定讲习班在内的本科课程培养早期职业分类学家，并举办一个关于入侵蚂蚁的公共艺术科学展览，说明蚂蚁的生态重要性。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。

Ants are among the most ubiquitous and ecologically important animals on earth. Their sociality has led to the evolution of diverse life histories and morphologies, yet half of the estimated 30,000 ant species remain undiscovered and await description by scientists. Ants’ outsized impacts extend to invasive species, which rank among the most ecologically and economically damaging taxa worldwide. One of the primary obstacles to effective management of invasive ants is taxonomic uncertainty, that is, many species cannot be reliably distinguished from one another or associated with stable scientific names. For example, hundreds of species of ants in the genus Nylanderia closely resemble one another, but only 15 species are known to be problematic. Although these ants are difficult to identify, their ubiquity makes them impossible to ignore; Nylanderia specimens fill museum drawers of unidentified ants, and the genus comprises up to 20% of unidentified ant specimens intercepted at US ports of entry. Taxonomic revision of this important but taxonomically chaotic ant genus is urgently needed to define species boundaries of globetrotting taxa, as well as to name the many species that currently lack description. Because many invasive ant taxa present similar problems, this project focuses also on training the next generation of ant taxonomists and professional insect identifiers, which is essential to overcoming the taxonomic impediment in this group.This project sidesteps a historical reliance on ant worker morphology by generating an unprecedented molecular genomic dataset, using ultraconserved elements (UCEs), to reconstruct the global evolutionary history of Nylanderia. This phylogeny will form the basis of an exhaustive taxonomic revision of the genus, which will clarify existing nomenclature, describe 100 new species, and resolve species boundaries in 15 widespread invasive species complexes. By focusing on the value of internal and external male morphology to species delimitation and practical identification, the researchers will introduce unexplored character sets into the study of Nylanderia and test the phylogenetic value of these characters against currently used worker-caste ants and queens. The project will train early career taxonomists through undergraduate courses involving new species descriptions and invasive ant identification workshops, and a public art-science exhibition about invasive ants will illustrate the ecological importance of ants.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.