The role of ecological specialisation in insect-plant macroevolutionary processes: a molecular phylogenetic approach across three kingdoms

开花植物和植食性昆虫是世界生物多样性的主要组成部分，它们的进化密切相关。该项目将增加我们对昆虫-内共生体-植物相互作用的了解，并提高我们对世界上许多生物多样性的起源、产生和维持的理解。更广泛地了解昆虫、它们的共生体和植物是如何共同进化的，应该有助于我们理解为什么有些昆虫能够成为害虫，而有些昆虫却不能。介壳虫（本研究中的模型系统）是重要的害虫，无论是在生态上（圣诞岛之间的相互作用球虫，热带雨林植物和疯狂的蚂蚁）和经济（例如柑橘粉蚧）。

Flowering plants and phytophagous insects are major components of the world's biodiversity and their evolution has been closely linked. This project will increase our knowledge of insect-endosymbiont-plant interactions and enhance our understanding of the origin, generation and maintenance of much of the world's biodiversity. A broader understanding of how insects, their symbionts and plants have co-evolved should improve our understanding of why and how some insects are able to become pests whereas others do not. Scale insects (the model system in this study) are important pests, both ecologically (Christmas Island interaction between coccids, rainforest plants and crazy ants) and economically (e.g. citrus mealybug).