The Phylogenetic System of the Vespidae: the Polistinae (Hymenoptera)

纸蜂科（“纸蜂”）是一种非常多样化的群居昆虫，它们建造的巢穴结构多样而复杂。这一热带种群的社会行为已经得到了深入的研究，但在已知的众多物种中，只有一小部分被描述和分类。詹姆斯·卡朋特博士将收集来自热带中南美洲、非洲和东南亚的物种的成虫、幼虫和巢穴特征的数据库。这些数据将被纳入对这些不同物种和属的进化关系的分析中。这项拟议的研究将在昆虫学家、生态学家、生物地理学家、行为学家和进化生物学家中找到广泛的受众。除了澄清我们对热带生物多样性群体的理解之外，其结果的进化框架将为未来的比较研究提供宝贵的基础。

The Vespidae ("paper wasps") are a family of extraordinarily diverse social insects that construct nests with varied and intricate architecture. The social behavior of this tropical group has been studied intensively, but only a fraction of the many species known have been described and classified. Dr. James Carpenter will be amassing a database of adult, larval, and nest characteristics from species in tropical Central and South America, Africa, and southeast Asia. These data will be incorporated into an analysis of the evolutionary relationships of these diverse species and genera. The proposed research will find a wide audience among entomologists, ecologists, biogeographers, behaviorists, and evolutionary biologists. In addition to clarifying our understanding of a diverse tropical group of organisms, the evolutionary framework that results will be an invaluable basis for comparative research in the future.