Effect of shifts of the larval biology on the radiation of Microlepidoptera (Pyralidae, Yponomeutidae) feeding on gymnosperm hosts

为了验证一般的进化假说，我们将从寄主植物转移和生态位策略的角度，研究以鳞翅目（Dioryctria; Argyresthia）为食的两个不相关的裸子植物属的多样化和可能的共同进化。裸子植物摄食鳞翅目时表现出较多的兄弟种群，相对数量明显高于被子植物摄食者。假设：这是昆虫与宿主相互作用加速物种形成过程的结果。Ehrlich和Raven（1964）的“升级/多样化”模型预测，适应具有独特化学防御系统的寄主植物的食草动物进化枝应该比它们的姐妹群体表现出更快的辐射。也有人认为，内噬可能限制了定植替代宿主的能力，并限制了物种形成的潜力，即向外噬的过渡应该促进进化的成功。这两种想法都将通过使用分子和形态数据重建模式属的系统发育树，并随后分析寄主植物关联、定殖模式和生态位偏好（“告诉树”）来验证。作为“副产品”，预计该研究将为鉴定经济上重要的兄弟害虫物种提供关键特征。

Diversification and possible coevolution of two unrelated genera of gymnosperm feeding Lepidoptera (Dioryctria; Argyresthia) shall be investigated with respect to host plant shift and ecological niche strategies in order to test general evolutionary hypothesis. Gymnosperm feeding Lepidoptera exhibit a high number of sibling species groups, the relative amount of which is evidently higher than in angiosperm feeders. Hypothesis: This is the result of speciation processes accelerated by insect-host interactions. The 'escalation/ diversification' model of Ehrlich & Raven (1964) predicts that herbivore clades adapted to host plants with distinctive chemical defense systems should exhibit accelerated radiation compared to their sister groups. It has also been suggested that endophagy might limit the ability to colonize alternative hosts and restrict the potential for speciation, i.e. transition to ectophagy should promote evolutionary success. Both ideas are to be tested by reconstruction of a phylogenetic tree of the model genera using both molecular and morphological data and by subsequent analyzing host plant associations, colonization patterns and niche preferences ("telling the trees"). As a 'spin-off', it is expected that the study will provide key features for identification of economically important sibling pest species.