PEET: Monographic and Phylogenetic Research on Leafhoppers and Treehoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Membracoidea)

9978026 Dietrich和Deitz这一增强分类学专业知识的合作伙伴(PEET)奖支持针对膜昆虫总目的分类学专著、学生培训和数据库的团队方法，已公布的物种名称约有25,000个，估计高达全球实际物种数量的250,000个。这些是叶蝉和树蝉，它们的口器有刺穿和吮吸的口器，以植物汁液为食；其中许多是农业和农林系统中的害虫，或者是植物病害的媒介。尽管它们具有很大的多样性和生态意义，但对这一大类昆虫的分类、分类和系统发育关系的了解还需要研究，而且受过培训的专家数量很少。这个Peet项目通过一个研究和培训计划满足了这一需求，包括形态和分子(DNA测序)方法、收集新材料的实地考察、对现有博物馆藏品的研究，以及关于这些昆虫的分类学、系统发育、地理分布和宿主联系的信息的数据库。该团队由伊利诺伊州自然历史调查局的克里斯托弗·迪特里希和北卡罗来纳州立大学的刘易斯·戴茨领导，成员包括美国农业部-史密森学会(Stuart McKamey)和其他机构的同事。研究人员在膜状昆虫的分子系统发育方面所做的开创性工作帮助划定了谱系，这可能是现代分类学专著中研究生研究的具有挑战性但可管理的论文主题。除了对大量博物馆藏品的研究外，还将对东南亚、墨西哥和中美洲的地区进行实地考察，这些地区的多样性在现有收藏品中的代表性很低。形态和分子特征将被整合为专题分析和修订分析的一部分，注意综合来自旧文献的信息，并解决种、属和科级别的命名问题。北卡罗来纳州立大学的一个广泛的数据库计划建立在计算机资源和数字图书馆专业知识的基础上，其中将包括一份雄心勃勃的、可在网上搜索的关于膜状昆虫的分类文献目录，这些文献在数千份文件中编号。

9978026Dietrich and Deitz This Partnership for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) award supports a team approach to taxonomic monography, student training, and databasing directed toward the Membracoidea group of insects, with about 25,000 published species names and estimates up to 250,000 of the actual number of species worldwide. These are the leafhoppers and treehoppers, insects with piercing and sucking mouthparts that feed on plant sap; many of these are pests in agricultural and agro-forestry systems or serve as vectors of plant disease. Despite their great diversity and ecological significance, the taxonomy, classification, and understanding of phylogenetic relationships in this large group of insects are in need of study, and the number of trained specialists is small. This PEET project addresses that need with a program of research and training, including morphological and molecular (DNA sequencing) methods, field expeditions to collect new material, study of existing museum collections, and databasing of information on the taxonomy, phylogeny, geographic distribution, and host affiliations of these insects. The team is led by Christopher Dietrich of the Illinois Natural History Survey and Lewis Deitz of North Carolina State University and includes colleagues at the USDA-Smithsonian (Stuart McKamey) and elsewhere. Pioneering work on the molecular phylogenetics of membracoid insects by the investigators has helped delimit lineages which can serve as challenging but manageable thesis topics for graduate students' research in modern taxonomic monography. Study of extensive museum holdings will be supplemented with field expeditions to regions in Southeast Asia and in Mexico and Central America, where the diversity is poorly represented in existing collections. Morphological and molecular characters will be integrated as part of monographic and revisionary analyses, with attention to synthesizing information from the older literature and resolving nomenclatural problems at species, genus, and family ranks. An extensive program of databasing builds upon computer resources and digital-library expertise at North Carolina State University, which will include an ambitious web-searchable inventory of taxonomic literature on membracoid insects numbering in the thousands of documents.