食植瓢虫亚科昆虫已知种类均为植食性，一些种类是农业上重要害虫，在瓢虫科中具有重要系统地位和经济意义。该亚科缺乏全面系统的分类修订，族和属的界定混乱，分类体系不合理，整个亚科的系统发育关系未知，导致其分类研究明显落后于其他类群。本项目拟对中国食植瓢虫亚科进行系统分类研究，查明我国食植瓢虫物种多样性和地理分布，完成各属的系统修订，明确鉴别特征，解决疑难属种的鉴定问题，记述新的分类单元。基于形态特征和分子数据，探讨属种间系统发育关系，重建食植瓢虫亚科的分类系统。研究结果可以为瓢虫科提供科学资料和方法，丰富我国瓢虫科区系，对食植瓢虫亚科的物种多样性起源与演化研究具有重要意义，并为其有害种类的生物学、生态学研究及防治提供重要理论依据。

Ladybirds belonging to subfamily Epilachninae are mostly phytophagous, some of which cause serious economic losses to different crops. Epilachninae is known to have an important role in phylogenetics system. At present, Epilachinae needs a detailed revision. Characters of tribes and genera in this sub-family are poorly understood and the taxonomic system is not suitable. Moreover, relationships among the tribes and genera are poorly understood. In this study, the taxonomy and phylogeny of Epilachninae will be studied. The research work will focus on the following aspects: collection and identification of Chinese species belonging to Epilachinae; specification of the morphological characters of each species; ascertain the species diversity and geographical distributions in China; revisions of each genus and provide identification characters; describe new genera and species; rebuild the phylogenetic tree of Epilachninae based on morphological and molecular data; correction of the taxonomic system to fix the tribe positions in whole Coccinellidae. The results of this project will be of great significance in tracking the origin and evolution of ladybird, and will provide important theoretical basis for the management of harmful species of Epilachninae.