Phylogeny and Evolution of Antlions and their Allies: Neuroptera: Myrmeleontiodea

9407165只建造奥斯瓦尔德坑的蚂蚁以其有趣的行为吸引了一代又一代业余和专业生物学家，它们在松散的沙子或土壤中建造圆锥形坑落陷阱，以捕获小型地面行走的猎物。这些动物是一个非常成功的种群的幼虫，该种群约有1700种中小型昆虫捕食者，隶属于桃金娘科属。有人提出，这类昆虫多样化的一个重要因素是它们的幼虫发展了适应在松散的颗粒状基质中生活的能力，特别是沙子。这些底物可能提供了一个相对空置的生态区或生态位，蚂蚁可以进入其中，因为以前相对较少的其他动物能够有效地利用这种环境。这项由这笔拨款支持的研究将通过检查蚂蚁和其他密切相关昆虫的众多物种的形态特征的分布来检验这一空白生态位假说。如果使蚂蚁适应颗粒状底物生活的角色的首次出现与这一群体的起源相关，那么支持这一假说的证据就会被找到。本研究将为改进蚂蚁分类、解释蚂蚁主要类群与相关类群之间的历史(系统发育)关系以及研究动物行为的起源和发展提供重要信息。这项研究是一项长期研究计划的一部分，该计划旨在提高我们对脉翅目17个科之间关系的了解。脉翅目是一种重要的捕食性昆虫，包括几个亚类，它们在作物和观赏植物害虫的生物防治中具有潜在的应用价值。***

9407165 Oswald Pit-building antlions have fascinated generations of amateur and professional biologists with their intriguing behavior of building conical pit-fall traps in loose sand or soil to capture small ground-walking prey. These animals are the larvae of a very successful group of approximately 1700 species of small to medium sized insect predators assigned to the family Myrmeleontidae. It has been suggested that an important factor in the diversification of this group of insects was the development by their larvae of the ability to adapt to living in loose granular substrata, particularly sand. These substrata may have provided a relatively unoccupied ecological zone or niche into which antlions could speciate because relatively few other animals had previously been able to effectively utilize such environments. The research supported by this grant will test this empty niche hypothesis by examining the distributions of morphological characters among numerous species of antlions and other closely related insects. Evidence supporting the hypothesis will have been found, if the first appearance of characters that adapt antlions to a life in granular substrata correlates with the origin of this group. %%% This study will provide important information for improving antlion classification, interpreting historical (phylogenetic) relationships among major groups of antlions and related groups, and studying the origin and development of animal behaviors. The study is one component of a longer-term research program aimed at improving our knowledge of relationships among the 17 families of the insect order Neuroptera (lacewings), an important group of predatory insects that includes several subgroups that are of interest for their potential use in the biological control of crop and ornamental plant pests. ***