Systematics of Brachyceran Diptera

我们迫切需要更多的科学家来记录地球的多样性，在我们的实验室里，我们将专注于一个超级多样化的群体，真正的苍蝇（双翅目）。这个群体中有超过15万种已被描述的物种，而这还只是冰山一角。我的研究重点是高等果蝇的几个家族，但我们鼓励学生们从事任何他们感兴趣的项目。我研究最多的是大头蝇科。这些昆虫是叶蝉、飞虱、飞虱和鹤蝇的寄生性昆虫。雌性大头蝇在它们发育中的寄主体内产卵，当它们的幼虫出现时，通常会杀死寄主。由于缺乏分类学知识，关于大头蝇及其宿主之间关系的研究很少。该项目将促进对针鼹及其宿主的生态学和共同进化的研究。我们还将探索和记录锥蝇科（大头蝇）和花蝇科（花蝇）的多样性。虽然我们的工作将是全球性的，但我们将以北美和澳大利亚为区域重点。澳大利亚有一种特别迷人的昆虫动物群，它们在孤立的环境中进化了数百万年。在这片迷人的大陆上，可以研究许多关于生物多样性和种群快速多样化的问题。在生物学中，我们提出这类问题的最好方法之一是，我们需要对相关物种是如何进化的假设。系统遗传学使用来自DNA和形态学的数据来试图揭示群体的进化历史。我们将运用这些方法来研究相关的物种、相关的科，甚至探索所有科之间的关系。这项令人兴奋的研究涉及来自十个国家的个人团队合作。我实验室的学生们将帮助整理拼图，揭开双翅目动物的生命之树。当我们试图根据我们对少数几个研究得很好的群体的知识来预测未知时，所创建的系统发生学将具有深远的用途。

More scientists are urgently needed to document the planet's diversity and in our lab we will be focusing on a megadiverse group, the true flies (Diptera). Over 150,000 described species exist in this group and this is still the tip of the iceberg. My research has focused on several families of higher flies but students will be encouraged to work on any projects that fascinate them. The group that I have worked on most is the family Pipunculidae, big-headed flies. These insects are parasitoids of leafhoppers, planthoppers, spittlebugs, and crane flies. Female big-headed flies lay single eggs inside their developing hosts and the larvae typically kill the hosts when they emerge. Very little work has been conducted on the association of big-headed flies and their hosts because of the lack of taxonomic knowledge. This project will facilitate research into the ecology and co-evolution of pipunculids and their hosts. We will also explore and document diversity in the families Conopidae (thick-headed flies) and Syrphidae (flower flies). Although our work will be global, we will have regional foci in North America and Australia. Australia has a particularly fascinating insect fauna that has evolved in isolation for millions of years. Many questions about biodiversity and rapid diversification of groups may be studied on this fascinating continent. One of our best methods for posing questions like this in biology requires that we have a hypothesis of how related species evolved. Phylogenetics uses data from DNA and morphology to try to uncover this evolutionary history of groups. We will be applying these methods to study related species, related families and even to explore the relationships between all families of higher flies. This exciting research involves teams of individuals from ten countries working collaboratively. Students in my lab will help to organize pieces of the puzzle to uncover this tree of life for Diptera. The phylogenies created will have far-reaching uses as we try to predict the unknown based on knowledge that we have for a few well-studied groups.