Systematics, taxonomy and speciation of insects

*蝴蝶和飞蛾是构成地球上生物多样性的食草动物中的一大类。它们之所以重要，不仅是因为它们在食物和纤维方面与我们竞争，还因为它们的美丽吸引了我们的想象力。云杉小球蛾毛虫是北美针叶林的主要食叶害虫，经常暴发，影响森林结构，造成重大经济损失，尽管几十年来一直在努力控制其种群数量。东半球燕尾种类的蝴蝶也受到了很大的关注，尽管主要是因为它们很大，对博物学家来说在视觉上很有吸引力。尽管进行了多年的研究，但这两类鳞翅目昆虫都有一个共同的事实，即我们仍然不知道它们包含多少物种，也不知道如何区分它们。这可能是因为这些物种在一些地区正在分化，在另一些地区则在融合。我们想知道为什么会发生这种情况，因为这将使我们深入了解物种形成是如何发生的。换句话说，一个物种如何以及为什么会变成两个物种？我们将调查云杉潜蝇蛾及其近亲物种的起源和进化，以了解它们如何随着时间的推移与环境相互作用，从而在北半球和东半球实现多样性。对这些蛾的分类和划定对于使我们能够有效地集中管理受其影响的森林是很重要的。我们还将研究当地景观结构在多大程度上影响北美燕尾蝴蝶物种之间的交配和基因流动。我们处于有利地位，可以利用快速发展的技术，使我们能够更有效地调查种群内和种群之间的遗传变异。我们即将能够确定哪些类型的基因以及多少个基因对种群的分化或合并至关重要。我们之前的工作表明，与物种差异相关的基因大多存在于性染色体上，就蝴蝶和飞蛾而言，性染色体仅占其总基因组的3%左右。如果这是真的，那么首先观察这些染色体上的基因将使我们能够更有效地诊断和了解我们周围的飞蛾、蝴蝶和生命的多样性。

***Butterflies and moths form one of the great groups of herbivores that comprise the diversity of life on our planet. They are important not only because they compete with us for food and fiber, but also because their beauty captures our imagination. Caterpillars of spruce budworm moths are major defoliators of conifer forests in North America, influencing forest structure by their regular outbreaks and causing substantial economic damage despite many decades of effort to manage their population numbers. Butterflies of the Old World Swallowtail species group have received much attention as well, although mainly because they are large and visually attractive to naturalists. Both groups of Lepidoptera share the fact that we still don't know how many species they contain and how to tell them apart, in spite of years of study. This may be because these species are in the process of diverging in some areas but merging in others. We would like to know why this might be happening, since this would give us insight into how speciation occurs. In other words, how and why can one species turn into two species? And can new species sometimes form by hybridization between previously distinct species? ******We will investigate the origin and evolution of species of spruce budworm moths and their relatives to understand how they have interacted with their environment over time to diversify across the Northern Hemisphere and into the Old World. The classification and delimitation of these moths is important in allowing us to efficiently focus our management of the forests that they affect. We will also study the extent to which local landscape structure influences mating and gene flow between the species of swallowtail butterflies across North America. We are well positioned to take advantage of rapidly advancing technologies that allow us to more efficiently survey genetic variation within and between populations. We are at the brink of being able to determine what kinds of genes, and how many, are essential for divergences or merging of populations. Our previous work has shown that the genes associated with species differences are mostly found on sex chromosomes that, in the case of butterflies and moths, make up only about 3% of their total genome. If this is true, then looking first at the genes on these chromosomes will allow us to more effectively diagnose and understand the diversity of moths, butterflies, and life around us.