Relationships of Nearctic and Palearctic Black Flies (Diptera: Simuliidae)

小行星9629456 黑蝇（昆虫纲：双翅目：蚋科（Simuliidae）是流水生态系统中数量丰富的类群，近年来在生态学研究中发挥了重要作用。 奇怪而不幸的是，对黑蝇的研究一直是在新北区和古北区分开进行的，导致对动物群和关系的独立描述和解释，以及不同的分类系统。 本研究项目将通过集中研究新北和古北黑蝇的关系来解决这个问题。 具体目标是：1）筛选Simulus亚属的古北界命名种的兄弟种，2）测试所选的新北界和古北界种群之间的同种性，3）开发Simulus属的新北界和古北界成员的系统发育。 这些目标将通过古北界黑蝇的细胞遗传学、形态学和生态学分析以及与新北界黑蝇的比较来实现。 这项研究的结果将首次全面分析两个动物地理区域之间的黑蝇进化关系，揭示未被识别的隐藏物种（兄弟物种），为进一步研究世界黑蝇生物学提供强有力的预测框架，并促进国际合作以了解全球生物区系的一部分。 该奖项将支持研究生在细胞遗传学研究方法的专业技术的培训，其中阿德勒博士是黑蝇的先驱专家。 黑蝇，其严重和痛苦的叮咬，是众所周知的，其破坏性影响的使用娱乐区在这个国家;他们也传播人类和动物疾病。 尽管有这些负面的属性，它们的幼虫也是水生生态系统食物网的重要组成部分，它们已被用作水质研究的指标。 该研究项目将阐明北美和欧洲黑蝇物种之间的关系，作为研究其生物学所需的背景，并提高我们对昆虫生物多样性这方面的认识。

9629456 ADLER Black flies (Insecta: Diptera: Simuliidae) are an abundant taxon in running water ecosystems, and in recent years they have come to play a prominent role in ecological investigations. Oddly and unfortunately, research on black flies has always been conducted separately in the Nearctic and Palearctic Regions, resulting in independent descriptions and interpretations of faunas and relationships, as well as different classification systems. This research project will address that problem by focusing on a synthesis of the relationships of Nearctic and Palearctic black flies. Specific objectives are to 1) screen Palearctic nominal species of the subgenus Simulium for sibling species, 2) test for conspecificity between selected Nearctic and Palearctic populations, and 3) develop a phylogeny for Nearctic and Palearctic members of the genus Simulium. These objectives will be accomplished by a combined cytogenetic, morphological and ecological analysis of Palearctic black flies and comparisons with Nearctic black flies. Results of this research will provide the first comprehensive analysis of evolutionary relationships of black flies between two zoogeographic regions, reveal unrecognized, hidden species (sibling species), provide a powerful predictive framework for further studies on the biology of the world black flies, and foster international cooperation toward understanding a part of the global biota. This award will support the training of a graduate student in the specialized techniques of cytogenetic methods of study in which Dr. Adler is a pioneering expert for black flies. Black flies, with their severe and painful bites, are well known for their disruptive effects on the use of recreational areas throughout this country; they also transmit both human and animal diseases. Despite these negative attributes, their larvae are also important components of food webs in aquatic ecosystems and they have been utilized as indicators in studies of water quality. This research project will clarify relationships between North American and European species of black flies as a needed background for studies of their biology and advance our knowledge of this aspect of insect biodiversity.